REWRITTEN
by 01Trycia-chan01
Summary: "Logic told me what was happening wasn't possible..." Where a tough, eccentric OC lands in the Narutoverse and changes some things around. Possible most likely SasukeSakura DEFINITE NarutoHinata ItachiOC. Yes, heavy OC use. Rated M for, well, just because.
1. Rewind

|REWRITTEN| |1|

They say that when you die, your life flashes before your eyes.

That's not entirely true, and not exactly false either.

When you die you _remember_ things in your final moments.

You don't remember _everything_ but you do remember _most _things.

I was going to die in five minutes. So was Obito. So was Kabuto.

There was no escaping the bubble of separate space I had made.

There was no running away.

There was no Kamui-ing away.

There was no chakra-blasting away.

There was no summoning an animal to aid in running away either.

There was nothing that could be done except wait and pray that death was quick.

There was only us and our skills as shinobi.

Kabuto and Obito were fucked. Kabuto, being a medic, could tell we were going to die. He couldn't sense the world outside. This was my space and according to my rules, they could do nothing to escape, and neither could I.

Obito glared at me. He could not use his Sharingan. He was defiant and stubborn even though he could not see a clear way out.

"Every jutsu has a weakness." He murmured. Pointedly, he turned around to ignore me. I cackled at him as he defiantly flung three kunai at the bubble's walls. The kunai bounced off. One, struck kabuto in his calf, causing the medic's breath to hitch, before he pulled it out, the other flew off the the side, and I stepped out of the way of one that skidded across the black floor beneath my feet and knocked against the wall behind me.

I laughed at him as psychotically as I could muster. They deserved to be a little scared before their died.

"This jutsu has a weakness." Obito turned around and stared at me, confused that I would be willing to spell it out for him.

"Its weakness is death. If you can kill me it will dissipate. That's the weakness for most jutsus... the user's death... however... I wired this place to blow upon my death. It's not ninjutsu. It's fuinjutsu, so the rules that apply are a little different." I explained. "So we have about five minutes left to live unless you kill me before then; if that happens to be the case, we'll die faster. It's up to you really..." I inhaled and exhaled shakily, tired from the previous battle. My kinesthetic sense was still slightly off from chakra exhaustion and I was bleeding heavily. Regardless, this was our death together, so I spread my arms wide, my blood dripping into the floor.

"You can take a shot if you'd like... personally, I've already been preparing for this day. I'm ready to go and I'd rather not waste any more time... Go on... Kill me. Let's have an eventful death, ne?" I laughed bitterly.

"You're full of lies." Obito snapped and turned around to kick the wall. He claimed my words to be false, yet he refused to kill me, in case they were true... Kabuto was shaking. His black eyes locked with mine, afraid. I shrugged in response.

"Don't hurt yourself on the wall, Obito." I mocked in my best Kakashi-esque drawl. I was going to miss that guy... he taught me a lot... Anyway, I sat down in a relaxed position, leaning back on my elbows and crossing my ankles in an Itachi-esque way.I needed to at least embody his confidence to prove my words true.

The Uchiha stiffened and stubbornly continued to try to taijutsu his way through the wall. His Sharingan was useless here. He couldn't see the futility of his actions. Kabuto, though... Kabuto knew we were going to die and he couldn't stop trembling.

"We ride together, we die together, gentlemen." I've always wanted to say something like that at an appropriate time. "You both chose to make me an enemy despite the many chances I have given you to change; especially you Kabuto. For your stupidity, you will die with me. Any last words?" I asked as nonchalantly as possible.

Kabuto was too afraid to respond. He was a rat trapped in a cage about to become fodder and he knew it. He said nothing, just stared at the black floor with wide, frightened black orbs. Obito ignored me like a true Uchiha and continued his pathetic tirade against my wall.

"Well, since neither of you will take this opportunity to speak, I will. Kabuto." Said man turned his widened eyes on me. He looked like a little boy, despite the badass hooded dark red cloak he was wearing.

"Your mother would have been disappointed in you. You should have done more things to make her proud. You should have searched for your _real _home and your own happiness in her honor, rather that claiming that you had no home or people who would ever care for you." He dropped to his knees when I said that, floored that I even knew anything about his past.

"Obito." He stopped pounding on the wall, the Uchiha fan on his back sending sadness through my heart. "Rin would have been disappointed in you. Instead of trying to figure out why the hell she died and for what reason, you selfishly ran off and decided on vengeance; You knew if she were alive, she would have just wanted you to make peace with Kakashi. You spat on her memory and her life and everything that she was with your twisted actions."

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT-

"_Yes_. _I fucking do._" I interrupted him. "I know this shit for a reason! I'm taking you both out and throwing this in your _stupid fucking faces_ because no one else was brave or cunning enough to do it themselves! You both needed a kick in your _stupid_ asses! Now you're getting it! **Sit down**. **Shut up**. _And fucking accept it_!" I shouted. They were silent. I chuckled darkly again. "Welp, it doesn't matter now anyway. Even if you both decided on changing it's too late. We're going to die here together, boys. I hope that at least in your final moments, you can realize that your philosophies were both fucked up and equally wrong." I sat up and crossed my arms. Nonchalantly, I glared at my sticky, bloodied hand.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... it's a shame I'm going to have to die in such a sticky manner to get rid of two bumbling idiots... you know.. after all that shit I went through to save this world and the important people in it... you would think I could at least be given the option to destroy myself in relative comfort..."

"H-how can you say things like that?" Kabuto whispered.

"Because I'm inarguably sure I'm dying for the right cause. You've been in Konoha, Kabuto. You know the place has a dark past, but now that that's been erased, everyone there is ready to start anew and do some good. I firmly believe that Naruto will herald an era of near-infinite peace. It's his God-given duty. You've abhorred and run from death because somewhere deep down you knew that what you were doing was for the wrong cause. Death is natural. It comes. It's everywhere and it's never very long before you catch it. That's why you have to do something good before it comes. This was my one good thing. Since I came here I've been tirelessly working to be able to complete that one good thing. It's a shame that I couldn't convince you guys to change your views sooner. Sometimes a good death is needed to cause a change in people. Maybe post-mortem you'll come to terms with your lives." I shrugged and sat down.

"Rin... Rin..." Obito whispered, he was pounding on the wall but he lost the will to continue. He slid down to his knees, his fists still propped up against the impenetrable barrier. "Why are you doing this? Do you realize how much you look like her...?" He whispered, his voice soft for once. His already fragile mind was breaking now that his ability to do anything was stunted, no..._ taken away_ from him.

"I'm only doing what I set out to do. You didn't want to listen before. You gave me no choice and on top of that you underestimated my ability to not care about my needs and wants. It's okay... we'll at least die together..." I soothed almost comically.

"I-I'm not ready to die..." Kabuto was already losing it.

"You should have made your mother proud. You spat on who she was when you knew her, just like Obito spat on who Rin was when he knew her. See how your evil and twistedness got the better of even the memories of those you held dear? Hatred and anger are like degenerative diseases. They plague you until you no longer know who you yourself are, or what those you loved would have wanted." I chastised. "Welp, it's too late now anyway."

Three minutes. We had three minutes left. I closed my eyes, finally letting some fear settle in. I was going to miss everyone so much...

**Ama-chan! I'm scared!** My inner wailed inside my mind.

_It's okay... We'll implode so fast our brain won't have time to register most of the pain. It'll be quick. We'll be gone in less than half a second... _

**I'm going to miss everyone... remember everything we've been through? Remember when we first came here?  
**

_Yeah... those were some good times... _

This is how I came to this world. This is everything I could remember in my final moments. This is my legacy. Won't you take a minute to hear it out before it's time to draw the curtains shut?

-X-

The mission was simple. Bust into the underground temple beneath the desert, kill enemies on sight, save hostages; arrest the ringleader if he's there; Mahamut. The guy was slimy. He did some weird ritualistic stuff and used the women and children of a nearby town/village to run some sick, religious experiments. My name is Amara. I'm a twenty-one-year old experiment myself. I've been with the United States military since sixteen. I was drafted into a program at that age in order to keep myself and my sister out of the orphanages the state wanted to stick us in. I became property of the United States and trained to become a modern-day assassin. A ninja, I liked to think. Anime was my thing; still is. I excelled in everything Japanese. Most of my missions from DC were centered on Japan. For whatever reason, this time they sent me to the Middle East. I only knew mild Pashto. I didn't care to learn any more if it either. The whole mission smelled like shit, but I had to take it anyway. My sister's smiling face is what kept me trudging on and on in the ridiculous heat, dressed in black robes that only revealed my eyes, my sword and guns hidden everywhere on me beneath the get up.

The sun was beating down on my head, _hard._ I felt like I was shriveling up as I took a long drink from my weathered canteen to fight the dryness in my mouth and throat. God this _sucked. _I was currently heading towards ruins just outside the village the kidnappings happened in. The name of said village was too complicated to pronounce so I won't bother trying to repeat it. I was thankful for my boots keeping the sand and dirt out, but at the same time I cursed them because the flesh of my feet felt like it was being cooked alive within them. Disgusting. I was sweating head to toe like a fat man in New York during July. I wished Ty and AJ were here to help me. They were like my brothers; they went on my assignments with me. They usually helped me blend in Tokyo as a model or something. This time their Asian eyes would work against me so I was sent to this sandy hell. By myself. Because Uncle Sam figured I was tough enough to do this on my own. Little old me. Something was really wrong with that.

I squinted in the bright light as I saw rubble in the distance. Praying it wasn't a mirage, I sped up. My plan went a little like this: I was going to mosey around the well nearby and pretend that I was drinking from it; I was going to pose as just a regular covered-up woman from the village, you know? Without a doubt I was going to get caught by one of Mahamut's henchmen. Once I was caught and had an opening, I would escape. That was the infiltrations part; the rest would come after it. I was going to assassinate every enemy there and free the women and children that were captured and rendezvous at some shack in town with some suits that would meet me there at roughly half past four. I hated time limits, but that was the basic gist of what was supposed to be done. Nothing ever went according to plan though, so I could only pray that this went the way I wanted it to go. If it didn't, well I was a quick and calm thinker under pressure, so I would figure something out if shit really hit the fan. I was also built to tolerate pain. I'd fight tooth and nail even if half the bones in my body were broken. I had to come home and see Angie, my little sister, in a few months. There was no doubt in my mind she was missing me and worrying about me.

I pretended to fetch water and drink it from the cracked bucket in the well. I was aware of the heavy footsteps kicking sand and dirt around behind me. Amateurs. Tch. The blow to the back of my head was misplaced as well. These guys were poorly trained; hastily assembled. This was again, far too easy. Was I somehow demoted, and then sent on this shitty, too easy mission and didn't even know about it? Nevertheless, I pretended to fall unconscious. They caught me before my face smashed into the stone of the well. I was hauled over someone's shoulder. Asshole grabbed my butt and laughed to the other guy that he would "take" me if I weren't going to die tonight. The other one said it wasn't right to do things that could send others to hell. These guys were definitely poor, hastily hired civilians with enough muscle to just barely pass as "scary". They obviously hadn't been doing this for long. There was a change in the air and light. I felt like I was being carried inside somewhere; probably into the ruins. The way I was bouncing up and down meant they were slowly carrying me down a set of stairs as well. I cracked an eye open and god everything was _green_. This wasn't because the inside was painted green or anything, I had just been staring at bright, sandy-colored space all day and my eyes had temporarily forgotten what it was like to be in dimmer light. I blinked rapidly to get rid of the phenomenon in my eyes. Suddenly the guy's friend spoke up. He said something about my back. Something was protruding. I couldn't understand what he was exactly saying, but my guess was that my sword, however, smooth and unobtrusive it was, was poking through the robes on my back. Welp, this was my cue. I quickly reached up and nabbed my captor's turban and slammed his skull into his friend's. A loud crack resounded and all three of us went toppling to the floor. I caught myself on my hands and stood up on the steps. I grabbed them both, and hit specific pressure points near their neck and spine to cut the blood-flow to their brains. I dragged them back up the stairs and dumped them atop each other. I dusted my hands off, and threw off my white garb. The infiltration process happened too early. I had grenades ready for when they would strip search me or whatever they did to their victims before they sacrificed them. I'm pretty sure they changed them first before the sacrificial ritual. Intel said Mahamut's henchmen had been buying red silk garments and delivering them to the ritual site. Whatever. I quietly padded down the stairs with the stealth of a ninja. I thanked God for the stone being a few degrees cooler than the outside. The walls were lit by torches and my vision was beginning to clear again. Everything was dusty and brown/sand colored. I promised myself that when I came home I would tear everything beige out of my apartment and burn it… slowly… I finally reached the landing. There was still no one around. There were many pillars that held up a stone ceiling that looked like it could give at any moment. The thought of being buried alive played through my mind and I shuddered. I was extremely claustrophobic. This was officially not cool, but it's not like I could complain when I got back to the states. I didn't belong to myself anymore. I was their animal and they could send me wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted. I crept towards the end of the torch-lit hallway, ducking behind every pillar as I moved. Silence. Not even my footsteps could be heard. My paranoia told me something was off. Were they expecting me? My captain's words rang through my head: "Be safe" he had said to me the day I left for this sandbox… He was the only other person in the force who used a sword. Since I was the government's cute, little experiment, he decided he'd teach me his ways while simultaneously protecting my virginity at the same time. Either way I became skilled in sword techniques. It was definitely a surprise in the field, for the enemy at least. Imagine it like this, you're shooting, and shooting and shooting round after round after round. Then suddenly, WHAM someone shows up right in your face to cut you to pieces. You're dead before your brain really has time to react and shoot back or reload and continue shooting. I'm extremely fast. That's really what I'm known for. Too fast for them to catch, with or without guns. I'm flexible too, which helps me out even more.

I tiptoed down the hallway and came to a fork. I heard slow, monotonous chanting /praying coming from the corridor on the right. That was where they were doing their ceremonies. I headed to the left. I assumed they would have to keep the captives _somewhere_ so I went that way, hoping it would lead me there. I fingered my Beretta on my left hip. It felt familiar; comforting in this absolute _shit _situation. Captain had given it to me. I used to really suck at handling hang guns and pistols. I never knew why until he took time to teach me the right way to stand, to fire and to hold the gun. Snapping back to reality, I figured I would have to do this all rather quietly, so I made sure my K-bar was still in its leather encasing at my shoulder. I tapped my pockets, making sure my lock-picking kit was ready, just in case I couldn't find any keys; if the victims were locked behind doors or bars that needed to be unlocked.

I descended down a stone, spiral staircase, little by little until I heard something. Someone large and heavy was coming up the stairs. The shadow of a man danced across the curved wall opposite of me as I pushed myself against the cool stone. I released my K-bar from its case with an almost inaudible click and carefully slid the knife out with my left hand. Step… Step… Step… The person was unaware of what was lying in wait. Step… Step… pause. My heart thudded loudly in my ears as hot blood rushed to my head. Had the man discovered me? No. He continued. Step… Step… Maybe it was that cold you could feel before something bad was about to happen… When he appeared I lunged at him like a wild animal after making sure he was an enemy. He wore Mahamut's red snake symbol on his sleeve. He was dressed in white robes. He was the enemy. His eyes widened, but I silenced him just before he could scream and alert anyone else. His clothes stained the deep crimson color of blood when I slit his jugular, keeping my hand over his mouth to prevent him from making any noise. His last breath escaped against the skin of my palm and the light and life from his brown eyes faded as I pulled my knife out and wiped it on his clothes. I searched him and found what I was looking for. Keys. They were cleverly hidden in his beard. It was thick, dark and curly like pubic hair; the perfect place to hide a set of master keys. There were only two and they looked like they fit into tiny keyholes. I pocketed the keys, and kept myself from feeling bad about killing the man. It was something that had to be done. It was so my sister could finish school and have enough money to go through college and have her own life. This was all for her and I would smile in hell when I died knowing that she would at least have a future when this living nightmare was over.

I set his body aside as quietly as possible and headed downwards at a quicker pace. I reached the bottom of the steps. Where were all the other guards? Why was this… _too_ easy? Seriously, it gave me a really bad, paranoid feeling. Where were all the goons? This operation couldn't _possibly_ be _that _small. I shook my head and shivered a little. It was cool underground; not as cold as it got in caves, but definitely cooler than upstairs or outside. The sweat rolling down my back chilled my epidermis and I tried to stop my skin from crawling from the sudden difference in temperature. I tiptoed through a threshold that lacked a door and made a sharp right. I was faced with countless, primitive holding cells.

A small hand reached out between the bars and called out to me in Pashto. "Help". The voice was so tiny and scared, my heart almost broke. I put my finger to my lips and said "In a moment" as best as I could. The little girl smiled, her curly hair was a disheveled mess but her eyes seemed to light up with hope. Her mother shared a calculating look with me and pulled her away from the bars. I continued down the pitch black hallway. The torches on the walls in between each cell cast an eerie orange glow around me. My shadow flashed across the sand-colored stone tinted with fire as I ran to the very end of the hallway. The place wasn't big. That was a good thing, but also added to my suspicions. I started unlocking cells and instructing in broken Pashto that I was there to help and to follow me and keep silent. Very basic commands but they seemed to get the gist of it. There were women that were covered, only their eyes showing through the cloth that hid their bodies. They stared in horror at how form fitting my clothes were. I was thankful that the Kevlar vest I wore shielded my cleavage from their sight. If they saw me as a "rule breaker" or "Satan-worshipper" and refused to come with me because of that, how was I supposed to help them?

I unlocked cell after cell. The little girl in the first cell hugged my legs tightly. After a quick comforting gesture in response I led them all out the way I came. When I came to the fork, the chanting/praying was still monotonous and ongoing. For now the perpetrators were busy, so it was the optimal time to escape. I moved at a quick, but civilian pace, my all-black katana now drawn to replace my K-bar. I led them up the stairs and back out into the desert. The group broke away to run to the well and drink. They must have been famished and parched after spending God knows how long there. They laughed and rejoiced as they drank their fill, but I quickly shushed them, reminding them that it was still dangerous. About ten minutes later they had all quenched their thirst and I continued our pace through the desert. I looked up at the sky and noticed that it must have been early afternoon. Just about lunch time. Everything was happening too fast…

We reached the town ten minutes later and the women took their daughters and ran to their homes. I checked my gear and made sure I had enough ammo and made my way back to the ruins to exterminate the rest of the bad guys. I crept like a lioness into an unexplored den to the right side of the fork at the end of the large, pillar-decorated hallway. I traveled soundlessly against the wall in the slightly-hot hall. The chanting grew louder and more ominous as I neared the ritual area. The "welcoming" chorus told me that I was going to encounter at least a dozen adult males. I prayed they were just standard Satanic ritual-goers that didn't tote around weapons and knives, but I was probably just wasting my thoughts and hopes on such things. Of course I would encounter some kind of resistance. Oh well, what was that saying again? Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, right?

For the next five minutes I felt like I was Lara Croft robbing some kind of Egyptian tomb. The hallway slanted downwards, similar to the way the underground palaces beneath pyramids were built. The temperature became cool like death again and I shuddered. I finally turned a corner and there was a light at the end of the hallway. I crept up to the bright opening and peeked out, keeping my body hidden in a small crevice where the threshold and wall met. My eyes scanned my surroundings first. It was a large room with pillars everywhere all the same color of the repetitive beige hallways I had been creeping through this whole morning. The room was about twenty feet wide by forty feet long. The ceiling was high, maybe about another forty feet or so. Chains hung from it with iron baskets on the bottom filled with fire to dimly light the room. I quickly checked the flickering shadows. I could easily move around behind the pillars and assassinate those that I needed to. My eyes flicked further into the room and widened at what I saw there.

There was a large set of steps leading up to a platform that had smaller pillars surrounding it that held a small domed ceiling above an altar on which a young, maybe sixteen year old girl was laying on. A man was standing in front of her, his arms up, a ceremonial, jeweled dagger in his right arm. As he chanted, she seized, over and over and over again. Her shaking was so violent, her breasts spilled out of her loose, crimson-silk dress and her hair vibrated over the edge of the altar. The pillars, floor, altar and domed ceiling were all decorated with seals of some sort.

Shit. I had to get to her, and _fast._ About ten feet ahead of me, twelve chanting men in hooded black cloaks sat cross-legged on the stone floor. There were six on one side of the room, in line with the right side of the staircase leading to the "Satan-altar". On the left there were another six in line with the left side of the staircase. They all chanted, as if they were an extension of the staircase and where it led to. They each had a sword at their right, a scimitar to be precise. I put my sword away and pulled a magnum from by lower-back. I could shoot through at least two guys from this distance if I got the angle right, and if I remained quiet. Every single one of them was so focused. I bent down on one knee and put my finger on the trigger. I leaned forward just a bit and aimed at the temple of a "chanter" as I had labeled them on my right. Bang! The shot went off. _Three _men on the right slumped over. Bang! That one took out another two who slumped over. No one moved or ran away; it was like some weird genjutsu. Tch I _wish _it was some weird genjutsu. That would be easier to accept than realizing that I was intruding on some weird _ritual _in which a girl was having a prolonged epileptic seizure due to whatever Mahamut had given her.

They kept chanting faster, trying to speed up their ritual. Bang! The last one on the right slumped over dead. Bang! Two on the left slumped over, dead as doorknobs; their brains splattered all over each other and the floor. The rest got up, and pulled out their swords, continuing their chant. They ran at me but they were slow. I shot two, put my gun away and pulled out my katana. They drew their swords and their chanting became deeper, more evil if that was possible. Suddenly, the seals around the altar began to glow red, giving me the impression that the whole room was on fire. A chill ripped through my body as I felt something absolutely just _weird_ pass through me. It was like something foreign had appeared in the room with us, an unseen force. The girl screamed bloody murder on the altar, her voice dying out, then coming back double-voiced. Demons. I feared demons. She sounded like a demon. I just wanted to finish my job and get the _hell_ out of there! Where the _fuck _did Uncle Sam send me this time, seriously!

I spun out of the way of a downwards swipe. The scimitar was beautiful in its own right, but it was like a large machete to me. There was no grace in wielding it. When one swung a scimitar death seemed to take on a less-elegant approach. I spun back around and cut clean through the man's torso. Blood gurgled out of his mouth as his last breath left him. He dropped his sword, but I couldn't hear or care for the sound of metal and flesh hitting stone. His body slumped over and my heart pounded as I jumped backwards, out of the range of his partner's almost immediate attack.

Everything was silent now except for the girl's double-voiced screech ringing in my ears like some kind of alarm. God I was actually _scared_. It had been so long since I was afraid. I shuddered involuntarily as I rolled across the ground and popped up to stab the offender through the chin, brain, and skull. His blood showered me, warm on my crawling skin, adding to the disgust I already felt towards myself from killing eleven men before him.. I suppressed the urge to throw up my stress. I straightened, and then pulled my blade through the front of his face with all of the strength in my arms, momentarily meeting some resistance from his teeth and bones before I kicked him over. His weapon clattered to the floor and the noise made me realize that I had been panicking. My hearing felt muffled, as if I was listening to everything through ear plugs. I swung my sword once to get the blood and brain matter off of it and ran up the steps. I think I screamed as I swung at the offender in front of the convulsing victim. My eyes widened as my sword passed through him. I jumped against the glowing red pillar, and found him at the bottom of the stairs. I couldn't see his eyes. I could only see his wrinkled, old face, smirking as the girl stopped shrieking. I tore my eyes away from him for just a moment and gaped at the girl. She had died. Her lifeless, pained brown eyes seemed to be staring at something I wasn't seeing. The tears that had once flowed from them were frozen in the corners of her almond-shaped horrendously _lifeless _orbs. Suddenly, the seals seemed to make the whole altar-area _vibrate_ as if the girl's life was passing through it, energizing it.

I tried to jump down the steps, but I was half a moment too late as I crashed into a big wall of red energy. I hacked at the wall, my claustrophobia making me panic again. I was trapped. Every time I hit the space in front of me it would light up red, like an invisible barrier of some sort. I pulled out my gun and tried to shoot through the domed roof of the altar area, but it was no use. The rounds bounced off. One even nicked my right arm, causing my blood to flow freshly over the oxidized life that had caked onto my skin from my previous kill. I vaguely heard Mahamut laughing in his ancient voice as the seals glowed so bright all I could see was red and the dead girl on the altar. I heard more laughter and screamed as I saw her sit up unnaturally fast, and inhumanly straight, pale and dead as the corpse she obviously was. She turned her head and her lifeless eyes had a weird glint in them. She smirked at me. There was something else in her brown orbs now. It was something evil. I took a step back as she swung her legs over the table with more force than was necessary for her petite body. My heart was beating so fast, I wished it would just give out already, but I knew that wouldn't happen. I was as healthy as a horse. This pressure and stress was nothing. She started chuckling evilly, as if everything had gone according to plan. I heard myself whimper as she began to step towards me, her evil tangible in the small space separating us. One more step and she would be upon me. She lifted her hands to touch me with her two fingers, as if one touch and my whole life would be hers. No…No… _NO! _

"GET BACK!" I screamed authoritatively, wildly. I held both my katana and my Beretta out in front of me. They were my protection. I hoped they would help me through this. She glared at me. It was the most evil glare I had ever seen on a girl her age. Men three times her age couldn't glare that easily. Men who hated and killed to satiate their rage didn't glare that evilly. No, I saw hell in her eyes when she glared at me. I breathed heavily as I got a hold of myself. I narrowed my eyes. I couldn't lose myself to the panic that was already there. I had to get control!

"Step away." I commanded calmly. I went from feeling everything to feeling absolutely nothing so fast I was surprised my head hadn't started that was left now was cold, calculating logic. She tried to touch me again, but she screamed in agony and anger as her fingers touched a barrier of blue around me. I gaped at the flash of blue within the abyss of red that we were surrounded in. Was it energy? It looked suspiciously like what they draw "chakra" to look like in anime. Spirit energy, or whatever if you want to be all Yu Yu hakusho about it… Weird. Whatever. The bottom line was that she couldn't touch me. I smirked at her as I felt the blue and red collide against each other in my chest. She gave me that evil glare. I refused to shudder like I wanted to.

"I'll see you in hell, bitch." I murmured under my breath as I saw the colors and energies blur around me along with her face. She looked _pissed_, but finally I was gone, away from her. I was floating; where to, I didn't know. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt myself being squeezed out somewhere. I tightened my grip on my blade and my firearm. I honestly felt like I was being born again. I felt like I was trying to squeeze myself through an opening that could only stretch so far. I screamed bloody hell as my body suddenly felt like it was being stabbed a million times by needles. My organs, everything hurt. I wanted to crap and piss myself out of pain but I curled up, hugged my weapons and took it. I screamed again as the pain continued while I was being pushed through…whatever I was being pushed through. God whatever was happening certainly wasn't ever meant to happen… That was my last thought before my vision fuzzed, then tunneled.

-X-

I awoke in a cool, hollow-sounding place, nauseated beyond my worst imaginations. I had food poisoning in the past that wasn't _half _as bad as this was… My skin felt raw and sunburned, even though when I looked, my blurred vision told me that my skin was fine. My vision cleared seconds later, and my stomach heaved. I was up as if someone had run an electric current through me. I rolled over onto my hands and knees like a drunk and emptied the small bit of bile in my stomach. I hadn't really eaten since before I left so there was nothing really to throw up. I wrinkled my nose at the yellowed stomach acid on the cool, dark stone beneath me. My sword and gun were still firmly held in my hands, thankfully. I rolled away from the stench of my innards and passed a hand over my body. I felt weird. My hands felt small, as did my arms. I still felt as muscular as I was before, I just seemed like I took up less space… Though I wasn't sure if that's because I was actually smaller, or because the room/cave/stone establishment I was laying in was absolutely _huge _to the point where I couldn't see the ceiling. I relinquished my grasp on my blade before I raised my hand to my face. I squinted at it, hard. It really _was _smaller than I remembered… What the _hell_. I grasped my sword and clambered to my feet like a bruised old lady, my body sending raw pain through every single one of my nerves in the process. This was what it must feel like to be electrocuted… then beat up and magically healed soon after. Ugh.

I sheathed my sword and put away my gun. I stepped into a puddle of water as I stumbled through some threshold of some sort. I realized I was in some sort of ritual room, like the one I remembered from my mission, but less evil-feeling. I looked at the walls and noticed there were drawings on them. I pulled a small penlight out of my back pocket and examined the images one by one. They were seals of some sort, but they looked oddly familiar, I just couldn't place my finger on where I had seen them before. Above the wall covered in seals was a swirly symbol of some sort. Where the hell was I?

I kept stumbling forward until I found myself behind some sort of weird waterfall. I put my penlight away and I walked around the waterfall, careful not to get wet and hopped across stones to get to the edge of a small pool of water that trickled into a small stream down some hill through the dense forest that surrounded this place. All around me there lay stone rubble, covered in nature. There were rocks of different sized with carvings on them covered in vines and flowers. The ground around the pool of water was flattened out as if once were part of some settlement of some sort that was here at one point in the past. I fell to my knees and took some water and washed off the blood on my exposed arms, neck and face. The cut on my shoulder had already clotted. I tried to wipe off the Kevlar vest, but it was no use. It was stained forever. I dunked my head into the cool water and relished in the icy liquid sliding through my medium length strands of hair. God my scalp tingled so wonderfully from the cold. I never thought cold things would feel so good, ever. I wasn't one for cold things, or winter. Actually in my opinion, winter is the most evil season _ever_. But I love the summer. In the same respect, I hated the heat of the desert I was just in. I just didn't like too much of any one thing.

Ugh I felt gross again, as if my stomach was going to tank a second time. I looked at the sky to distract myself from the feeling. It was bright and early in the morning. Weird, how long have I been out? I washed away the last of the blood and looked at my reflection in the water. I screamed at what I saw. I looked fucking _seventeen_! What the _hell_! I blurred the water with my hand in disbelief and then rubbed my eyes. When the water settled again, I was still seventeen-looking. Even my _boobs_ beneath my Kevlar vest were smaller! They seemed to be too small for my regular C36 sized bra. I was probably back down to like a C32. What the _fuck_. I glared at myself, as if my reflection would give me an answer. I grabbed my boobs beneath the vest and squeezed. They were really smaller! I touched my face. It was really younger. I mean, I was twenty-one last I remembered, but I had the beginnings of dark under eye circles and wrinkles and whatnot. Here… this image… was of a fresh-faced seventeen year old. Everything looked seventeen about me, except maybe my grey eyes. They still looked old. Too wise for my age. I grabbed my wet, dark brown hair and leaned backwards until my butt was firmly situated on the ground. I put my head in between my knees and breathed deeply. I felt the panic and fear of my most recent memories settling in and if I lost it here, I would certainly go insane. I pushed the events that had led to me waking up seventeen again out of my head and just concentrated on breathing and the sound of my heart and the nature around me. Suddenly, I heard footsteps and I was up, my sword drawn. Seventeen or not, I had still retained my skills. If anyone was going to try to take me on they'd be sorry they even thought about it in the first place…

The bushes rustled a few meters in front of me. They were really tall bushes, actually. Nature had really taken this place over. Regardless of that thought running through my mind, I tensed as a hand separated the greenery and out stepped… Kabuto. Yes… Fucking _Kabuto. _I was so surprised, I loosened up. He was still in his crappy purple getup from the first part. What exactly was going on?

"What the _fuck_?" I heard myself speak. I lowered my sword, as his dark eyes landed suspiciously on me. They flickered to the sword and then back up at my face and he activated his stupid chakra scalpels in response to the threat I posed. I was amazed that I could see the green glowing around his fingers.

"_What the fuck?_" I spoke again, as if someone would answer my questions.

"A young lady shouldn't be so brash with her words." Kabuto spoke calmly, lowering his hand, but not deactivating his chakra scalpels. "What are you doing here?" He questioned. I glared at him. This motherfucker… was asking _me _what _I _was doing _here_? I was here _first; _that was none of his damn business! I kept my mouth shut tight though, my pink and healthy lips a straight, hard line. He "humphed" his feathers ruffled by my attitude. Fucking _Kabuto_?_ Really_? I glanced upwards towards God and wondered why I had been sent here. Was this heaven or hell? Did I die? Why was I here? Was this some weird limbo or in-between world? Again… I asked myself… what the _fuck_?

-X-

So there we have it folks! The first chapter! Tell me what you think! This chapter is dedicated to Blade8821 and Darkpetal16 for giving me the courage and evil ideas to write this =] Check their stories out! Blade is currently writing a fic called "Naruto What If". If you want to cackle and laugh your butt off this is the story for you to read. Darkpetal is currently writing a story called "Sakura" that is absolutely _awesome_ to read! Also if you get the chance to, read The Curse by SincerelyLen. SincerelyLen is my hero and the author I personally look up to. I hope this story and especially the _way_ it is written can eventually be up to par with hers. =] Review and let me know what you think. I won't respond, but hey, in the words of Darpetal16, _reviews are LOVE_. =] And will probably keep me writing! I will respond to your reviews here in the author's notes at the bottom or top of the page!

-Trycia-chan-


	2. Sasuke

REWRITTEN |2|

Just so you guys know… this chapter was absolute hell to write. I couldn't get my shit straight to save my life but I finally came up with this. I hope you guys like it! Happy reading!

-X-

"I'm..." So shocked I want to sit down... But I'm not going to do that. "I'm just looking for food. Where's the nearest village?" I asked Kabuto, sheathing my sword. He relaxed, deactivating his chakra scalpels, eyeing my guns at my sides with wary curiosity.

"It's in the direction I came from." He responded. I nodded and began to walk towards him, to walk past him through the bushes and out of there. His words stopped me about three feet in front of him. "But I wouldn't go there. There are..." he seemed to look for the proper words to phrase his sentence with. "...bandits. Killers. Of course, with your chakra levels, you should be fine, however you still wouldn't want to meddle in the affairs of missing nin..." He spoke evenly. I looked at him; shocked out of my mind. Was this dude... trying to... _help _me?

His eyes seemed deeper, as if... he wasn't so twisted yet... Then I remembered. He wanted to stop Orochimaru at one point... he was going to kill Sasuke to stop Orochimaru just after the chunin exams... But he wasn't strong enough yet... At that recollection I wondered... when did he lose his mind to the snake bastard?

"I see... Any other directions or advice you can give me?" I asked keeping my thoughts on him private. He seemed to tense up as he walked to stand next to me. I tensed up as well and took a step back.

"You're cautious..." He observed, his dark eyes infinitely curious as he watched me and my every reaction. He seemed to take me in from head to toe.

"Anyone would be... You're a medic. You have more power than you know you have..." I tried to subtly drop a hint that he was strong enough to resist whatever brainwashing he was being put through. He smiled at me; a genuine smile. Was this the legit nice side of him? What gives, seriously?  
What the fuck?

"Hmm... I suppose you're right about that... Regardless, if you turn around one hundred and eighty degrees and travel in a straight line at a decent speed for a few hours you will reach the Town of Hot Springs. They have phenomenal bath houses and inns." He explained. "You should leave quickly, if you want to make it there." he said in a rushed tone as he glanced over his shoulder, nervously. I narrowed my eyes... he seemed like he was really trying to help me...

"Are you in trouble?" I queried before I could stop myself. Maybe I could get him away from Hebi-teme?

Maybe...? Was it even worth it?

Kabuto chuckled and shook his head.

"Not exactly. You should go now. It was a pleasure meeting you. Your name?" He asked politely.

I smirked at him.

"I can't tell you." I put a finger to my lips and winked in a flirtatious manner. He blushed and I whirled around and ran. Screw staying there it was just too friggin weird... Kabuto was the bad guy...

-X-

I made it to the Hot Springs town without a hitch. It was obvious at that point that I would have to look for Konoha. It was still early on in the series, and Tsunade would probably hear me out. I was going to change shit around A LOT. With her help, of course. After all, wasn't it Itachi that said you can't do everything by yourself?

Anyway, I made it to Konoha and had a "nice" chat with the higher ups.

-X-

I'll spare you guys the boring details of my initiation into the village and my training after that. In short, over the next year and a half I spent my time cheating. Yes cheating. Shadows clones are epic, if you catch my drift.

No you pervert! I just used shadow clones to speed up my progress during training! Heh heh…

First I trained with Gai-sensei to polish over my taijutsu. I learned five different styles of taijutsu. 'Didn't take long with shadow clones and all. Gai called it "stunting the flow of youth". I called it progress.

We settled that argument with a run around the village. First one to pass out lost. Tch. Needless to say my inhuman stamina and sheer stubbornness helped me win that one. Gai liked to preach about youth, but I think he was running out of the stuff himself.

Next I trained with Tsunade-sama, who unceremoniously sent me to T&I when I first showed up. I was there for a full three days and on the verge of psychosis before they finally relented and decided that there was no way I was lying.

Between taking shots and learning techniques, Tsunade somewhat became like a best friend to me. Where I earned her respect, I earned Sakura's relentless competition. God she was almost as bad as Gai was with Kakashi.

The village liked to joke that we were the girl versions of Sasuke and Naruto. I swear that was all Sakura's fault. She still had her suspicions about me as well.

"It's not possible to learn that fast, shannaro! Who are you _really_?" She always asks. Thankfully I made it a point to avoid her outside of training so Tsunade usually stepped in and reminded her of her manners.

While training with Tsunade, I also trained with Kakashi. He helped me master summoning and a few sealing techniques. I was now the proud summoner of ninja cats.

When I was done with Kakashi I meandered over to Kurenai. Let me tell you, seeing her and Asuma in reality was… haunting. Their romance reminded me of my own failures in life… what I could have had, had I made different decisions under different circumstances.

I wanted to protect what they had. I talked to Tsunade, thankfully, my favorite Hokage had that situation under control. I gave a full report on Hidan and Kakuzu's abilities and how to defeat them. The teams sent in would not go in blind this time.

I decided to take her word for it. Secretly, I was grateful I didn't have to do things alone.

**Tch, you still have to save Itachi all by yourself; convince him to come back. Then help Sasuke after that, or vice versa. Those tasks have been left entirely up to you. Don't forget why you have me! **

That bitch was my inner. Somehow I manifested her. I guess the stress got to me eventually. She was the voice of my doubt, sometimes the voice that whispered about the things I should have in my personality but don't. She was the girl inside me that I was ignoring to stay single-minded in my goals.

I wanted to pound her face in every time she squealed at how "cute" Kakashi-sensei was up close. Regardless, I didn't hate on her too much. She protected my mind. That was enough for me.

Anyway, I learned high-level genjutsu from Kurenai. I prayed that it would be enough to get me to take Kisame's place in Akatsuki.

Speaking of which, Kisame fans, I deeply apologize… but Kisame-san is going to die. Why? Well it's simple, really. Think about it like this: Kisame is cool. Yes. I don't doubt that.

His character was great, but at the very heart of things, he was a loyal, Tobi disciple and I didn't exactly have time to play "psychologist" and change every Akatsuki member. There were also, as far as I knew, ten spots open in Akatsuki. I would be forced to kill someone for the title, you know?

I wasn't about to go for Hidan or Kakuzu. I wasn't patient enough for that or immortal enough either.

What about Deidara and Sasori? I could care less for art. Sasori was also supposed to be reserved for Sakura, anyway, and Deidara for Sasuke. I would need Sasuke slightly weakened for the moment he decided to come for Itachi anyway…

Tobi and Plant Guy… I would take those assholes out when I could, but now or in the near future wasn't exactly the time yet… I personally feel like Kakashi should face his demons anyway. The man was a pervert yes, but that was because he was haunted by his own ghosts.

Pein and Konan were going to be Naruto's "victims". Tsunade vehemently denied letting the destruction of Konoha happen, but when I said we could take precautions to evacuate the village beforehand and that Naruto would have a very important talk with his dad she relented.

Anyway, it was the easiest way to have some private time with Itachi. No, not for sexy things, but to convince him to pull me into Tsukuyomi and hear me out.

Speaking of Tsukuyomi and Itachi's degraded eyes, I was now deep, deep below the Uchiha compound in front of their underground medical building.

Tsunade told me I was crazy for even _thinking _of attempting to heal his eyes. Of course I laughed at her and said I was going to do what was necessary to make Tobi _want _me in the Akatsuki.

She sighed and told me the best way was to go through the Uchiha's medical records. She gave me the location and told me to be careful because Danzo's dogs still sniffed around the area occasionally.

Why haven't they been able to get into the records, you ask?

Heh.

The whole underground stone complex was covered in complicated seals, just like the ones that got me sent here in the first place. No one could translate the characters in the seals. Lucky for me, I knew over four languages. I could easily figure it out just because I was awesome like that.

Let me ask you this: Have you ever been tasked to crack Sanskrit or ancient Persian codes? No. I have though and succeeded, halfway at least.

Guess what the sealing characters on the building looked like to me? An odd mix of kanji and Sanskrit.

I had first tried the seal from right to left in the underground tunnel. All I had was the light of a chakra lantern to help me. It sucked. I poked and prodded with my chakra and tried different sections of the seal. Then I realized that the whole seal was in code anyway. Usually on a seal this complicated the first three or four characters were instructions on which hand signs to make.

Of course that referred to simple seals that weren't meant to keep people out. Usually Konoha had a code they used to substitute characters on defensive-type seals. But this seal wasn't written in the code I became familiar with.

Peeved, I made my way to the left. Knowing Sasuke's dad and how much of a stick-up-the-ass he was, he probably made them seal the whole thing backwards. Who would think to read the seal backwards, right? Well I tried that. I went from left to right. The first time around I missed it, so I looked to the center of the seal.

I frowned at it, because I knew damn well what it was. It was a decoy. The squiggly marks around it were just to look complicated. They didn't really stand for anything. If anyone placed their chakra here it would just be a waste of time.

I sat in front of the wall, the stupid, dim, blue glow of the lantern pissing me off. How could it be so calm, when I had so little time? I envied it for its simplicity. It didn't have to do these things to save people. It was a _fucking _lantern.

Aggravated, I stood up, dusted my ninja pants off and kicked the thing as hard as I could. It flew into the corner, bounced off a nearby wall and rolled to the left a little. I glared at it, but suddenly I realized something.

There was a section of the seal that was covered up. The seal itself was so huge, I doubt anyone would have realized that part of it was buried beneath the ground. I kneeled down in front of the lantern and started digging. I discovered a sun-shaped seal with the kanji characters for "blood" and "Uchiha" on it. This was it! This was where the seal started!

But I needed blood from an Uchiha to undo it. Fuck. Thanks a lot Itachi, really. This helps me help you SO much. Incase you hadn't realized it, that was sarcasm.

There were only three Uchiha left alive and they were all way out of reach. I grumbled and covered up that section of the seal.

I made sure to pretty much put the dirt back where it was before I found it. It was a part of the stealth techniques Kakashi-sensei taught me. They were all anbu-level. Hopefully Danzo's dogs wouldn't notice it. I knelt down in front of the ground and focused hard on my chakra.

When I trained with kakashi he tried to teach me earth style techniques. I had great chakra control, but I just mentally wasn't willing to sacrifice a lot of my "insane" chakra on jutsu.

My jutsu always failed because of that mental block. But now was a different story.

"Earth style: Earth compression technique!" I hissed to myself after I performed a few hand signs. I pressed my hands against the ground and compressed it, so it looked more solid, less disturbed. This was a last-resort technique to cover up tracks. It was insignificant and way, way, _way _back in the anbu handbooks, but it would suffice for now.

I picked up my lantern and huffed it out of there. I took a roundabout way around the compound and entered my apartment complex nearby through my bedroom window that just so happened to face the Uchiha compound. I stared back at the walls decorated with Uchiha fans, the yellow tape in front of the entrance gates broken, but still billowing quietly in the wind.

No one lived on this side of the apartment complex but me. They said the compound was haunted and that at night the ghosts of the Uchiha would rise to look for Itachi in the village. They were restless and needed vengeance.

Of course that was all BS. I saw absolutely nothing at night, but that didn't make the place look any less eerie. My inner shuddered and I told her to stop being a baby. That complex, waking up to it every morning, was my motivation. It reminded me of my goal. It kept me going.

It reminded me that I couldn't let two people suffer if I could help it.

I quickly went into my small, blue and white bathroom and stripped my clothes off. They were caked in dirt. The red, sleeveless shirt same first, the tight nin-pants/leggings came next. Afterwards I kicked off my shoes. Then I took off my cotton bandeau bra and my matching thong.

I looked at myself in the three-way mirror and touched the dark circles under my eyes. The sun began to set through the small bathroom window and cast the area in an orange light. I flipped on the lights and sighed. I looked tired.

My hair had grown out past my shoulders and was disgusting. I didn't feel like myself. I had made this mission, this goal, my life. Naked as the day I was born, I wrapped my arms around my alien eighteen-year-old body and sank to my knees.

God I missed my sister… She probably thought I was dead. She was probably suffering because of me… Fuck… The tears came faster than I expected them to.

I was such an idiot. If I hadn't just gone back to finish the second half of the mission… if I could have just accepted failure for once, I wouldn't be here. My sister wouldn't think I'm dead…

**Oi, listen… you can't think that way… Remember what Angie said before we left? She promised us that she'd be strong even if we died. Also, Red said he'd check in on her for us, incase anything bad ever happened. Come on! Pick yourself up! **

I glared at my reflection. The grimy, disgusting hair was in my eyes. Silently, I sectioned it off like my mother taught me to before she died.

She was a hairdresser, so I knew all of her techniques.

I created a shadow clone and grabbed a pair of haircutting scissors I bought and a comb. I pulled a chair in front of the full-length three-way mirror and sat down as my long-haired clone Stood behind me.

"Oi, boss, you should probably wash your hair first… It's too grimy to cut. It won't come out accurate." The clone warned. Good; it was competent for what I needed it to do. I smirked and showered while she waited. I sat back down, dripping wet and still kind of depressed.

The clone started cutting the back first. It was as short as Sai's hair in the anime. Smirking I told her to go with that theme, but more feminine. She gave me a deep side part with the comb and wisped my bangs, wisping the hair towards the face on the sides as well. When it was done I took another shower and thanked my clone for its services.

I felt more like myself. Less depressed. I finished rinsing off all the hair and covered myself in a towel. I smirked. My clone had cleaned up the hair before she poofed away.

I looked at my feminine face in the mirror. You could see it better now that my hair was out of the way. Jeez, my eyes and cheekbones and everything were so feminine. I smiled. I'm freaking sexy.

**Yosh! That's the way to feel! Let's get dressed and ask Hokage-sama to give us a mission that will get us some Uchiha blood! **

I frowned. That was going to be easier said than done…

I hastily went to my bedroom and dressed in another pair of black nin pants/leggings whatever, a cleaner pair of nin boots and a simple, red v-neck tunic. I wrapped my forehead protector around my arm and shunshinned to the Hokage tower.

-X-

Yes I got yelled at for requesting such a stupid mission, but you know what, I got what I asked for. Tsuande had that evil gleam in her eyes and somehow I knew I would be meeting Sasuke soon. That was her "kill two birds with one stone" look. That meant this was going to be a little more complicated than "Infiltrate Orochimaru's compound, find Sasuke, give him a paper cut, get some of his blood and get the hell out of there". This was going to go from that to "bring Sasuke home". Ugh…

-X-

A week later that was exactly what my mission was. "Convince Sasuke to come home with the information you know." If that didn't work I was to knock him out and take him home. Of course, I knew the necessary sealing jutsu and medical ninjutsu to turn him into a life-sized Ken doll temporarily, but that was beside the point. My mission was Itachi, not Sasuke. But it was still true that if I wanted to save Itachi, I would have to somewhat use Sasuke to do it…

It was common knowledge that Orochimaru switched bases like he switched toilet paper rolls.

The only bases we learned of was, A) the one that I stumbled upon when I came here and B) the one Karin did her guard duties at.

So I put on a few silver arm and shin guards, along with a black leather waist guard around my middle and set off to the base I ended up in when I first got here. It was at the ruins of Uzushiogakure. I made it a point to study up on some sealing techniques while there.

-X-

**That's it… **My inner whispered in my head… as if she should be quiet because she could be heard. I brushed my fingers against the scrolls on my hip and against my trusty katana.

I eyed the waterfall and closed my eyes to concentrate.

**It's so pretty at night time… look at all the fireflies…. **My inner bumbled like an idiot.

_Will you shut up so I can concentrate!? _I snapped and she instantly shut up. I couldn't sense anything weird from the brush I was hiding in but that didn't mean jack squat.

Orochimaru could have some barriers up. After all, he was a master at sealing and I still had a whole year to fine-tune the art. In short, I wasn't a master yet, even though I was pretty damn close. But that slight difference in skill could make a huge impact on the way this mission went.

**Sasuke's cute… **

_And you're not. Shut up. _

**I wonder if we'll see him…. Ne, who do you think is sexier? Sasuke or Itachi? **

_Oi, inner? _

**Hm? **

_What's the point of wondering who's the sexier brother? _

**Hm… I don't know why, Amara-chan. Why? **

_There is no point. It doesn't matter, baka. We're here to help and find a fucking way home. That's it. _

**Maybe the ruins will help us get home, but, Ama-chan… I kind of like it here. The boys are cuter… **

_Ugh… I swear to God inner, you're such a girl. _

**Haiiiiiii…. You could learn a thing or two from me, you know. **

_I'm a damn soldier. A ninja. I think being feminine is a little redundant. _

By the time I had cut the conversation off we were past the waterfall and in the chamber I found when I woke up. Someone had cleaned my vomit off the floor. Heh, Kabuto probably did.

I smirked at the vision of Kabuto cleaning my stomach acid off of the floor while Orochimaru pushed his ass with the heel of his foot.

Yes I could be evil… heh heh… Anyway I tiptoed quietly, pulling a penlight out of the storage seal tattoo on my left wrist. It was temporary henna, but it was useful.

I was so tense I swear I started to pray that it didn't radiate off of me. I had to think silent, see silent, and meditate on S I LE N T. I had to become the meaning of silent. I had to epitomize the shadows. Like a cat I pressed myself against the wall and tiptoed past the chamber I woke up in. I turned off my penlight and summoned a ninja kitten. It was all black with violet eyes.

_Kuro-kun. _I greeted in my head. The kitten in my hands nodded towards me.

_Amara-hime… _

**KURO-CHAAAAAAAN! **My inner screamed and I rolled my eyes as the cat nearly leapt out of my hands.

_A-Amara-hime… _The kitten greeted in a disgruntled childish tone of voice. I smiled at Kuro. He was just a kitten, but his specialty was stealth. He went unnoticed and undetected. He only wore his black fur. He didn't have anything on him that defined him as a ninja cat.

_Kuro-kun… I need you to help me search these chambers. I need to know if they're empty. _

_They are not Ama-hime. There is an anti-sensory barrier three levels below us. _

_Oh. God you're always so helpful. I love you Kuro-kun. _

_I am happy to be of service, Ama-hime. Is there anything else I can help you with? _

_You might be too young to remember him, but are you familiar with Uchiha Sasuke? _

_Yes, hime-sama I believe I am. _

_Can you sense him anywhere in here? _

_Yes, he is separated from the others. In his own chamber. _

_Great. I need you to lead me there. Can you use your shadow technique to cloak us for extra safety? _

_Of course, hime-sama. _

Without another word, Kuro bit my hand. It hurt, but I wasn't complaining because I felt the blackness wrap around us. I felt safer, cloaked in Kuro's presence. I could see in the dark as well.

Kuro's technique made us one in a sense. He transferred some of himself into my palm through saliva when he bit me. As a result for a fixed amount of time, I was as stealthy as he was. We moved quickly, unseen and unheard, down flights of steps through stone chambers and everything. We even snuck into Sasuke's room. The Uchiha was sound asleep.

I covered my mouth to suppress a gasp. What I could see of his bare torso was covered in cuts. His palms had dried blood from broken blisters on them and he looked beat halfway to hell. His face made him look so young and vulnerable. No child should ever have to suffer like this…

Yes Sasuke had put himself in this situation, but even so this was a fourteen-year-old _boy _suffering in this kind of condition. My inner medic cringed.

_Kuro, please take the shadow cloaking off. I need to heal this boy before I can talk to him. _

_Hai, Amara-hime._

The kitten jumped up onto my palm and licked my hand. The cloaking technique dissipated and Sasuke's eyes snapped open. I had Kusanagi's tip in front of my face before I could blink properly.

I could tell his body hurt. His arm was minutely shaking as he held the sword up, his breath was shallow as well. I crossed my arms. He couldn't take me on like this. It was pathetic. His Sharingan pierced the grey of my eyes but I didn't falter.

Inside, my inner was practically vibrating with joy. She had some weird Sharingan fetish, I swear.

"Put that down. I'm not here to fight." I spoke. "You look like shit. I'm a medic. Let me heal you." I offered curtly.

"Did Orochimaru send you here?" He growled distrustfully. I cocked a perfect eyebrow.

"No. I'm here of my own accord." It was then that his eyes snapped to my arm where my forehead protector was. "And before you cry wolf, let me advise you against that. I'm not here to drag you back if you don't want to come back. I'm only here to relay a message. Got it?"

He gave me a calculating look, but he dropped his sword and sat up properly on the edge of the bed. I began to heal him and spoke as I did so. I used so little chakra. This was going to take a while, but I needed to stay stealthy. If I used any more than I was now, Kabuto would notice.

"Listen, you're not a stupid kid." I started, watching the wounds shut slowly as I painstakingly fixed his cuts and internal bleeding with strict attention to detail.

"You know you're being used."

"And you know you're committing treason right now." He snapped back in a whisper.

"And you wouldn't be whispering if you really didn't give a shit, now shut the fuck up and let me finish." I murmured back. The kid's whole body stiffened, it was funny to see.

"Now listen, you don't know the whole truth about that night." Sasuke was about to start bitching about how I didn't know jack about his life, but I had already numbed his vocal chords. All that came out was a strangled whisper. His eyes widened when he realized his whole body had gone numb and he was at my mercy.

"Stop worrying. This is chunnin-level shit. Sakura could do this to you if she wanted to. It's nothing permanent. Now before you start telling yourself that I don't know shit because I wasn't there and blah blah blah, you should take care to know that I have a special kekkei genkai that can see things like that. Your Sharingan can go as far as reading minds if you want it to. My kekkei genkai allows me to see into souls." I lied. Lies lies lies lies lies. LIIIIIESSSS. I was lying. I hated lying.

But I barely had time to sit down and take a shit sometimes, so what ever made you think I had the time to explain my situation to him and pray that he believed me?

"Anyway, your brother, though he killed your family, he didn't do it for the reasons you thought he did. You're making an enemy of the wrong person."

His eyes widened.

"You remember don't you….? His tears that night…" The kid became pale and I was almost done with the worst of his wounds. I took his hands and began healing them. His face relaxed, as if his hands were what were bothering him the most. More so than his bruised ribs and misaligned kidney. I made a sick masturbating joke in my head about his hands to ease up my own tension and then continued explaining to him.

"If you want to know the whole truth I suggest you come with me. We have evidence we need you to see in Konoha. I can promise you your revenge, although it will not be soon and it _will _require some degree of patience. I need you to look up if you agree to come with me and look down if you decide to forget all that I have told you and stay."

It was here that I looked up from his healed body and met his eyes. They were so black and confused. He wouldn't agree. Not immediately at least. He would need time to think, but the pull of extra information was too strong for any ninja to pass up.

He gazed downwards at the floor. I closed my eyes and sighed. I pulled out a vial with a needle in it. He freaked out but he couldn't move so it's not like he could do anything anyway. I pricked his finger with the tip of the needle and filled the tube up with his blood.

"I need this for something that will benefit you later. I can't tell you what it is, but you just have to trust that I won't do anything untoward with it." I explained.

His eyes flitted frantically across my face. He tried to make a sound, any sound, but it wouldn't work. My chakra was still there numbing his vocal chords. When I sealed the vile into the storage seal on my wrist I returned his ability to move and speak. He coughed quietly.

"Fuck." I cursed. I used too much chakra to do that. Kabuto and Orochimaru were on their way here and they were moving FAST.

Before I knew it I heard Sasuke's voice in my head.

"_I have to think on what you said. For now play along." _

I nodded and he pushed me so hard I swear I flew through the wooden door, right into Kabuto who groaned like the bitch he was.

Instantly I was up on my feet my katana drawn, I back flipped a few times to put about ten feet of distance between myself and them.

"Hn. Konoha swine. Disappear!" Sasuke shouted. He seemed pissed, really pissed.

I heard the crackle of Chidori as he stepped out of his bedroom, if you could even call it a bedroom.

"You could come back!" I tried to reason. "How did you nullify the numbing effects of my chakra, anyway!? You're stupid if you want to stay here!" I shouted at him.

"Tch. You obviously don't know ninjutsu very well. I have an affinity for lightning. And you can tell your Hokage I won't be coming back. Ever."

I glared at him.

"This is your last chance. Come back or there will be an order sent out to kill you. You can get stronger at home. Think on it for a second!"

His eyes became cold.

"Konoha is dead to me."

Kabuto had his chakra scalpels out and was eyeing me with curiosity. If he remembered me from a year and a half ago he said nothing. I gave him a meaningful look, to relay that the same message applied to him.

Orochimaru chuckled and I imagined that if he could use his arms he'd he clapping right now. I sent him the most evil glare I could must.

**Ama-chan… I'm scared…**

_Shut up! Not now! I can get out of this! _

"Tsunade sent a weak one… How entertaining…"

I glared at him. Just 'cause he couldn't sense my chakra didn't mean that I was weak. But whatever, him thinking I'm weak could work in my favor.

His sword exited his mouth and I wanted to throw up. That looked so awful. Gross!

"Kuchiose no jutsu!" I leapt backwards and summoned a huge cat that plugged up the whole cave-like hallway we were in, effectively separating me from the rest of the group.

"Oi, Amara-chyan…." The orange cat drawled with a slight accent.

"Kemuri! Your ass is towards them, you know what to do!"

I don't know if you've ever smelled cat shit… but it's awful. Kemuri let out a huge fart. I ran smirking as I figured that chamber would be filled with poisonous fumes within half a second.

Of course, the poison only induced nausea and that's really it, so I doubted Orochimaru and his crew would be immune to it since A) it wasn't common and B) who the hell needed to be immune to non-lethal poisons that induced nausea?

I felt the walls shake and I knew Kemuri was swishing his tail. Maybe they were resistant even though the poison was so rare…

When I was at the mouth of the cave and passing the waterfall, I released Kemuri and headed towards the bushes. Three kunai were tossed in front of me, halting my escape.

I whirled around and my purple chakra scalpel clashed with Kabuto's greenish blue one. His dark eyes were confused, intrigued. I forced him back with my strength and backflipped to put some distance between us.

"So you were Konoha this whole time?" He asked as if he was regretting not killing me that day.

"Not when you met me. Regardless, you should walk away from this. Yakushi-chan would be disappointed if she knew you were like this!" I shouted. I would let him think on that too. His eyes widened, then narrowed.

"How do you—

"Peace out!" I spat and threw a smoke bomb.

"Wait!—

Within the smoke, I summoned Kuro and he cloaked us. I was out of there faster than you could say "'dattebayo"!

-X-

Well that's that. I hope this chapter was more interesting. Review. Let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.


	3. Shenanigans

REWRITTEN |3|

Damn I had to pee. I was still huffing it to Konoha when I decided to stop at a bar/lounge. Kuro uncloaked me and poofed away and I trudged in, tired.

"Irashai!" The bartender called. The place was small. No dance floor though the music was booming. I sat at the bar and asked for a cup of rice, a glass of water and some hard stuff on the rocks.

"You got it, miss!" The guy was fat and hairy but friendly all the same.

"Welcome!" He said again in Japanese just as I took my headband off of my arm to scratch at an itch I've had there for about an hour. Ugh it was relieving. The person who just came in sat down next to me and I nearly pissed myself. Literally.

What are the odds of both Kisame AND Itachi walking into a bar right after me? I sealed away my headband into the storage henna seal on my wrist as discreetly as possible.

Seeing Itachi in the anime and manga was waaaaaay different than actually seeing him in what I believe is real life. The aura around him was intense, but he probably made it that way on purpose… A bowl of rice and my drink was set down in front of me and I hastily ate and downed the drink, then ran to the bathroom.

I was nervous when I saw Kisame eyeing me. I did my business with much relief and took out money to pay the bartender with. The fat guy was happy and surprisingly he gave me another drink.

"This one's from the amphibious gentleman at the end of the bar." The bar tender whispered. I almost gagged at his breath. Booze and onions. Gross. I looked over to Kisame and he tipped up his glass with a smirk and downed the drink.

Was this… a challenge? Oh hell NO this bitch wasn't challenging me, apprentice to the Godaime Hokage, to a drinking contest.

**Ladies don't drink! Just walk away! Please Ama-cha—**

Too late. I downed the glass with a smirk. Itachi rolled his eyes as he nursed a cup of tea and watched me and Kisame silently interact.

I slammed the glass upside down on the bar, stood up and went to leave, nodding at fish-face. But as soon as I reached the threshold I felt a heavy hand settle on my shoulder. I turned around with the most biting glare I could muster. Truth be told, I was afraid out of my mind, but there was NO WAY IN HELL Kisame was going to know that.

"Yo, Ojo-chan let's go outside and spar, ne? You seem to have a pretty cool ken-jutsu style." He teased, but I wasn't particularly fishing for complements, really. And yes, that pun was intended.

**No! No! No! This is bad! So bad! Badbadbadbadbadbadbadbad!**

"Tch. How the hell do you know what style kenjutsu I use and if its interesting or not? What kind of half-assed pick up line is that?" I spat back at him, stupid and brave as ever. I swear if I had a dollar for every thought I kept to myself…

Kisame started cackling, the scent of alcohol rolling off of him in waves.

"Your eyes. Every swordsman has it in his eyes. For a girl you can sure hold your liquor. Wanna spar?" He offered with a shit-eating toothy grin. He ignored my insult about his pathetic pick up line and continued. Nice recovery. But I wasn't going to fuck around; no way. I was too tired for this shit tonight.

"No. Fuck off. If you want to spar we can spar later, when I come to kill you and turn you into sushi." I snapped, feigning a particularly bad mood.

I shrugged off his hand, ignoring his bewildered and amused expression. Itachi and I locked eyes for just a moment before I shunshinned the FUCK out of there.

Regular POV

Kisame turned around and shrugged at his partner who seemed only mildly amused.

"Typically you ask a woman her name first before asking her to do anything with you." Itachi lectured with a small smirk as he sipped more tea. Kisame burst out laughing.

"You're a son of a bitch Itachi, but you're a son of a bitch with a fuckin' sense of humor." The fish-man commented as he sat down.

Itachi shrugged minutely and continued to sip his tea. "You shouldn't be surprised a woman like that told you to-excuse my language- 'fuck off'." Itachi bantered.

"Heheh, I have a feeling we're gonna see that one around soon enough… Maybe next time she'll come out to play." Kisame spoke as he sat down to continue drinking.

-X-

Once in Konoha I sent a messenger cat to Tsunade explaining the details of my mission. She was going to get pissed that I didn't drag Sasuke back to Konoha against his own will, but she would have to get pissed without me there.

I suddenly felt very bad for my messenger cat as I ran right for the Uchiha compound and right for the underground medical facility. I didn't have time to waste explaining that Sasuke deserved to make a choice for himself for once, though so whatever.

Once there I undid my handy work that hid the real opening to the seal and used a tiny droplet of Sasuke's blood on the kanji in the center of the small section of carved symbols. To my fortune, the solid rock doors slid open without a hitch. I entered and the doors sealed shut behind me.

I coughed violently thanks to the dust and mold and felt around the wall. With a spark of my chakra the room lit up. It wasn't absolute hell but it wasn't very clean in there either.

I was in some sort of lobby with a wooden floor. The chairs to the left and desk to my right were covered in a layer of dust and dirt. The area still smelled sterile like a hospital, but at the same time it was tinged with must. No one has been here in probably a decade or so…

I felt a chill run down my spine as I gazed at the Uchiha fan decorating the front of the front desk. I walked towards the half-circle shaped center of operations and avoided the computer chair that was pushed all the way out.

Papers were scattered all over the desk. Someone had left in a hurry. Everything was just logs of which Uchihas were discharged and when. General front office stuff.

Nothing important. Well, at least nothing that screamed "HERE ARE OUR SHARINGAN SECRETS! TAKE THEM PLEASE!" Hehheh…

Anyway, I walked down a hallway past the desk after that. I touched the wall of the hallway and it lit up thanks to my chakra. Being here was eerie. I passed several examination rooms.

I could almost imagine little Uchiha kids waiting there with their parents to get checked out.

It was obvious these were used for check ups and vaccinations and simple things, though. Again nothing out of the ordinary. So, I moved on and passed surgery rooms. Blah. Boring again.

After that I found what I was looking for. It was a lab door and the head doctor's name was written on the oak in metal. It was some Uchiha. I couldn't read the first name as the letters had rusted off.

I punched the door and it turned into sawdust. I walked through. What greeted me was, well, it was pretty bland. It was clear the Uchiha didn't care too much for experiments and shit like Orochimaru did.

It looked more like a grand office than a laboratory, really.

It was a regular room with a wooden floor, many cabinets and a single metal desk in the center. Two of the four walls were lined with medical texts. There was one table behind the desk that held empty vials and flasks and a microscope.

I walked to the front of the desk and saw a picture of an Uchiha woman with pinned up dark hair and glasses. Her husband next to her was also an Uchiha with spiky dark hair.

He looked a little awkward. He was blushing with an arm around the woman.

I looked closer and saw a hospital ID tag on her blouse. She must have been the head doctor. That must have been her husband.

I pulled open the drawers of her desk and searched and searched every single medical document she had in there. I finally found what I was looking for in her top right drawer. Research on the Sharingan.

It was a whole huge packet of information in her neat handwriting. It was split into three chapters or "stages" as she had labeled them. That meant I would need three shadows clones.

I whispered the technique I needed to use and three doppelgangers showed up and took a chapter each out of the pile in my hands.

I, and another shadow clone went through all the cabinets in the room and began sealing anything of importance into scrolls while the others read.

I didn't find much. Just records on every Uchiha that was currently alive at the time and notes on their health and whatnot. The medical tomes were interesting. There was even a book on advanced sealing techniques of the Uchiha in the room.

I shuddered at how many of the women in the files I read through were pregnant… Itachi had to kill pregnant women… he must've felt awful…

My clones were done reading eventually. I was a fast reader to begin with anyway. I sealed the all-important Sharingan documents in my storage seal and huffed it out of there once I was sure everything of importance was taken and there were no hidden storage areas in the floor or in the walls.

I sealed the doors once again and hid the entrance. Then I shunshinned home. At that point it was around nine at night _the next day_. As soon as I was in my living room and on my way to the bathroom, I started stripping my clothes off. What a long fucking two days, God. Finally some sleep…

**We can dream about Ita-kun!**

Or training. We can get more done in our sleep if we dream about training… I liked that idea better. My inner groaned.

-X-

After I had finishing memorizing Mikoto's diagrams on the Sharingan, I paid Tsunade a visit. She told me to dress sexy so I assumed we were going to go out for drinks in some town outside of fire country.

When I showed up in the hokage tower wearing black tights, a red mini skirt, a pair of nin boots and a demure, but still cleavage-showing white v-neck blouse I realized that's exactly what we were doing.

Tsunade had disguised her age. She was closer to nineteen looking and her boobs weren't as huge. Her blonde hair was henged black and she was dressed in a simple but strapless form-fitting mini dress and red heels.

She had a simple silver necklace with a leaf pendant hanging around her neck. Her hair was up and she had red studs in her ears. Tasteful. Sexy. I would be playing "bodyguard" tonight, most likely.

…Or we were going somewhere more expensive and that's why she was dressed expensive.

"Don't look for the booze yet." She chastised with a smirk. I smirked back and shrugged but she knew I wanted to know what was up.

"We're going to use Jiraiya's methods to find out Itachi's travel patterns and get some more information." She revealed.

Oh no. Bad idea.

"Um, yo, Tsunade, I don't think that's quite our forte…" I trailed off hoping she'd get the hint.

"Nonsense, nonsense. If that old pervert can do it, so can we."

"You mean we're going to spy on guys bathing?" I joked.

She snorted. "Absolutely not. I've seen enough during autopsies to not really care about seeing any more penises. After a while they all start looking the same." She shrugged.

I was floored and yes I cracked up. But she was wrong…

"In my opinion a penis is like a fingerprint. They're all different…" I murmured and she burst out in laughter. I smirked and decided to add to that.

"You know… some lean to the left, others are straight some have no helmet, others do… you get it…" I shrugged nonchalantly.

She grinned at me. I grinned back.

"So we're going to bar hop, I assume." I spoke for her.

"Thaaaat's right. Here, take this."

She pulled a picture of Itachi from her cleavage. The pic was a bit crumpled but I smoothed it out. God he was handsome even in pictures.

"That's your long lost big brother for tonight. Try to act cute and coy when flirting. Dress a bit sexier. Do you have anything sexier?" She grumbled. Haha her inner "Ino" was showing.

"No." I replied honestly. I didn't care much for girly things, let alone looking sexy.

"Then we'll find you something on our way to the hot spots. It's still early."

It _was_ still early actually; it was only five and the sun was still up.

"All right. Let's get going." I shrugged.

-X-

We had traveled all the way to Kiri. I fucking hated the rain and I hadn't even been there for more than twenty minutes. I did a complex henge and made my hair long and blonde. I put it in a high pony and Tsunade had gotten me a dress similar to hers, but in red. A pair of black heels later, I felt super girly.

My inner loved the looks I was getting at the first bar we hit up. A lot of Kiri shinobi seemed to like my hair. Tsunade and I split up and after a couple drinks and I found my target. It was some old fuck who seemed like a retired shinobi.

He was still muscular in his arms and legs but seemed to have a bit of a beer belly. Gross. He was downing beers like a fucking beer-chugging champion at a drinking competition.

He beckoned me over and I blushed cutely, although really I was grossed out. I sauntered over and slid into the booth next to him as coyly as possible.

Tsunade was already saddled up with some young Kiri shinobi with a soul patch and dark eyes. After a few more beers the guy was close to being a little fucked up. Optimum time to start asking the questions.

"So, whass a pu-retty girl like you doin' at a joint like this?" He slurred in drunk Japanese. Ugh gross his breath smelled like fucking cheese and throw up but he started the conversation for me, luckily.

Grin and bear it… grin and bear it…

"Nothing really…" I trailed off mysteriously and blushed. He grabbed my chin, after missing it with his hand the first time and smiled at me really dreamily.

"Oh, don' be shyyy… baby doll… you can al-wayssss tell me…" He slurred again.

**Grossgrossgroooooossssss! His breath Ama-chan! **

_Don't throw up… don't throw up… don't throw up… Kami-sama pleaaaaseeee don't let me throw up…. _

"M-my nii-san…" I leaned over so he could see my boobs and pulled out the picture of Itachi from my cleavage. "He went looking for daddy a few years ago… he's pretty strong so I know he's alive, but recently, mommy's gotten sick… she's dying… can't you tell me if you've seen him? I think he wears our traditional family red and black cloak…"

I squirmed shyly and looked him deeply in the eyes, pretending he was my first boyfriend. The image of Chris in my mind was easier to tolerate than this guy, even if it left a slight ache in my chest.

For a minute I almost hurled when I realized he was leaning in to kiss me with his dirty mouth, but I poked his chest with the picture and his eyes snapped towards at it. He seemed to study it for a few minutes and I saw a hint of recognition in his expression.

"Oh yeah… that guy… this is your brother? You don't look anything alike?" He looked at me. Oh yeah, duh… he was a former shinobi; of Kiri no less, of course he'd be suspicious.

"Mhm…" I tucked my elbows into my sides and made my boobs look juicier. His dick took the bait and controlled his brain for me. He seemed to forget his suspicions in favor of sex. Too easy. "He looks more like daddy…" I murmured in a girly, innocent-ish tone.

"Well I've se-en 'im around. I'm here e-vry night and he always shows up here every two weeksss on a Thursss-day with a big fish-lookin' guy. They were here lass week actually…The big guy says 'ee hates goin' to the tea-country so much. Your brother always saysss… "it can't be helped" or somethin' like that. Is your daddy in the tea country?"

Tch. My dad was fucking six feet in the ground in some other universe. But Itachi sure as hell must be somewhere in tea country. Thanks pedo-douche!

"Oh! Thank you! Thank you so much!" I hugged him and squeezed my boobs into his side. Just as his hands touched my butt I hit his pressure point with a bit of chakra. Tsunade noticed it immediately and knocked out her "customer" as well. We headed out of there silently after paying for our drinks.

-X-

"What did you find out." She stated more than asked, because she knew I found _something_ out. I wouldn't have stayed there any longer had he not known anything.

"They're usually sent to Tea country. He shows up here every two weeks on a Thursday."

"Well that's pretty detailed." She grumbled. She must have had no luck on her side.

"Yeah and so is my cleavage apparently. All it took was one good show of it and he was talking like his sex life depended on it. Nice guy though. He took things slow." I explained. We were off towards tea country at that point.

"Well, this is going to be your first mission with a sannin. It should go good on your record." Tsuande smirked as we took off our heels and replaced them with nin boots from a storage scroll she carried in her cleavage. I placed Itachi's picture in my strapless bra beneath my dress.

We started sprinting. Tea country was a little far from Kiri, so to hurry the pace up I summoned a few large nin cats. They happily decided to run us there. They were rescue and retrieve cats. They did running because they liked it. They were helpful in situations where injured teammates needed to be taken to safety at a quick pace.

We were in tea country in a few hours, whereas it would have taken Tsunade and I a whole night of running at top speed to reach the place. We replaced our shoes, bought the cats some fish and went to a bar after I released them.

-X-

We gave up on the bars around midnight and started looking at cafes that were still open. I vaguely recalled reading something about Itachi liking cafes. Luckily the first one we went to the waitress was able to tell me about Itachi and how many times he frequented the place.

She gushed about how my "big brother" (yes I gave her the same sob story except in a less sexy and a completely platonic way) was very polite and attractive and if I could perhaps help her meet with him outside of the café a few times.

I said I would promise to if she could tell me how to find him first. It wasn't long before she was chattering away to her crush's "little sister". Tch. Dumb bitch.

Itachi was there once or twice every week. Apparently the waitress said she sometimes saw him frequenting other places just to change things up.

"Is he a shinobi?" She asked me, batting her long, dark lashes. Inodded and smiled. "Oh well you can definitely tell. He doesn't like anything monotonous. I suppose after living such an intense, fast-paced life, anyone would get bored of the same thing, no?"

I giggled cutely even though I wanted to punch her in the face. How could she assume something like that? Stupid fucking… **bitch**.

_Whoa? Inner? _

**She's not even pretty. Tch. **

Well, that's a surprise.

"I guess so." I responded. "Nii-san's always been a little restless though. Anyway, thank you so kindly!" I stood up and hugged the brown-haired, brown-eyed girl and pulled my "cousin" AKA Tsunade away.

"Oh!" I cutely pretended to just remember as we were walking out. The same waitress, her name was "Mika" apparently, turned and looked at me curiously.

"If you see nii-san, please keep this a secret between me and you please? I don't want him to know that I'm looking for him. He'll worry if I'm just out here with Nana(Tsunade's disguise name)-chan looking for him and his ulcers will come back. Please?" I looked at her with the saddest, cutest puppy dog eyes I could muster. She blushed.

"Kimi-chan you're so cute! Of course I'll stay quiet. It can be our little secret!" She winked at me and I smiled. Tsuande studied me with a sideways glance as she politely excused us from the establishment.

"Okay, so we know he's been to this village frequently…" I whispered as Tsunade and I found an inn to crash at for the night. She paid for our stay and we headed up to our room.

I, for one, was exhausted. Flirting with disgusting creepy drunks was awful; 'certainly not something I was fond of. But if it helped me intercept Itachi in the future, it would have to do for now.

I summoned some pain pills from my seal and dry swallowed them. We ended up getting a nice room with double beds. Tsunade plopped down on hers and stretched out in a starfish position. Her henge dropped so I decided it was safe to drop mine.

I fell onto my bed in the same manner soon after.

"Ne, Amara?' She addressed me, curiously while looking up at the ceiling.

"Mm?" I asked, shutting my eyes to avoid getting a migraine.

"Why do you keep your hair short?" She asked me. "It's uncommon, and sometimes ineffective on missions and such." She revealed. I smirked, my eyes still closed.

Indeed it was smarter to have longer hair so you could pull it completely back. Short hair had the habit of growing out faster and would get in your eyes, decreasing your accuracy and range of vision. She wasn't wrong.

"It's who I am. You know how you wouldn't feel like you if you were forced to use like I don't know, fire-style ninjutsu or something?" I didn't wait for her to respond. I just continued. "Well, I don't feel normal with my hair long. I feel covered up and foreign. Besides I have a face than can make angels bend to my whims…I think I can pull off the short haired look, no?" I smirked, complementing myself. I heard her chuckle.

"You're a strange one. But that's why I like you." She commented.

"We did well tonight. This will help in the future. When we get back take a few vacation days. You've been over working yourself." She commanded regardless of being my best friend or not.

And like the wise Hokage she was, she was right. I felt like a sixty-year-old woman, when I actually thought of it. My bones were creaky, I was sore all over from training like a madwoman and all I could fucking ever think about was saving people and helping Tsunade plan to save people in the future.

"You know what? Let's drink." I unsealed several bottles of sake from my seal and so did she. Like, apprentice, like student. We both thought of the same thing before we left heh heh… I looked at the bottle of sake and shrugged. Who needed cups when you had sixteen bottles? We clinked the bottles together and chugged.

-X-

Well that was a bit uneventful because this story is fast-paced but I promise more interesting things in the future. It will slow down later. I think. Maybe. I don't know. A lot of you followed this story. Why'd you follow it? Review and give me an answer.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.


	4. Mission

TO ALL MY SHADOW READERS! Reread the first parts of chapters one and two! I inserted some stuff and I think it made the story flow better. I'm trying not to rush this but there are so many boring parts that I want to fly through, yet at the same time I want you all to get to know and love the OC and whatnot.

Also I am SO sorry this came SO late! I have recently opened up a new business and it's been hectic picking colors for the logo, buying the website, all the tools I needed and everything else! This is the first day I have to edit and post this and that's only because I'm not feeling well enough to do anything else! Anyway yeah, happy reading!

REWRITTEN |4|

_My heart was thudding as I ran around my family's house, looking for my sister._

_I was just at the library reading medical texts when I received a phone call from the chief of police. My house was on fire. My sister was the only one safe. That was what made me run home… _

_I found her on her knees on the asphalt driveway, trying to fight her way into the house through a pair of tall police officers. _

_Our parents were inside that house… so were our pets; my cat and her German Shepherd. I understood her need to save them, even though she was so, so much younger and more useless than myself. _

_I was a young teenager, my hands small and unable to do anything, let alone rush in through burning debris and save lives. Trying to fight through the two men that were holding my sister back was useless and illogical. _

_I collapsed on the ground next to her and threw my arms around her. _

_There was a moment of silence before she screamed an agonizing wail of pain that was muffled by my shirt. _

_Only the worst emotional wounds hurt enough for her to wail like that. _

_Men who lost their wives and children in one shot wailed like this… it seemed so unnatural coming from such a tiny body with small lungs like hers. _

_I held her tighter as she shook and sobbed into my slight chest. I steeled my emotions. I could freak out later. Now wasn't the time. _

_Silently we sat and watched for hours, the neighbors gathering around us, asking us if we were okay._

_Eventually they put out the fire. By that point both Angie and I were numb to the core. A kind fireman put his hand on my shoulder. We hadn't moved from that spot in so long. _

_The heat of the flames were gone and my face felt tight, as if it were lightly burned from being in such close proximity to the fire. I looked up at the man as he took off his helmet/mask thing. _

_He frowned. Children shouldn't have such mature looks on their faces, but mine did. I was only sixteen, but I was prepared to walk through hell for my sister. He noticed she was asleep and decided to deliver the news. _

"_Everyone perished… the smoke inhalation got them before the flames did. It was arson. They'll be investigating to see if they can't find the person who did it." _

_His expression broke and he turned and walked away. I started to shake. I was pissed. Whoever did this was going to suffer and die. _

_It was then that the man in the black suit walked up to me, like some sharp-looking angel of death. His cologne stuck out in the air, defying the smell of burnt wood and chemicals around him. _

_It smelled expensive. He had my attention. _

_I gave him a glare, clutching my sleeping sister tighter. Like hell he would take her away from me… like hell… I wouldn't allow it! _

_He smiled at me. It was a pleased, proud kind of smile. It was as if he had plans for me that I didn't know yet. _

"_You and you sister won't be separated if you agree to come with me. I'm from the government. Uncle Sam has an offer he'd like to give you…" _

_I wasn't stupid. I wasn't about to allow myself and my sister become victims of the system. No way. _

_So I nodded solemnly. I picked her up, and trudged with him to the back of the all-black Crown Vic… _

_That was where it all began… my enslavement… That was where the hole in my chest grew deeper and deeper until my heart itself felt hungry and needy. _

-X-

I woke up, not panicked or anything cliché like that. I just woke up and looked at my window, feeling lonely. The sun wasn't even peeking through yet.

It must be before dawn. I yawned and looked at the clock on my nightstand. The hands told me that it was four in the bloody morning.

'Truly an unholy hour. Bah. Whatever. I got up anyway, throwing the sheets off of myself and stretching. The cold of the room assaulted my skin and caused it to crawl momentarily as I enjoyed the blood rushing to my brain.

I squeezed my boobs, so thankful that they had grown back to their regular size and walked over to my bathroom naked to brush my teeth and shower. Once that was done I dressed in a pair of leggings, tall boots and a purple shirt.

I was going to train this morning. I patted my shadow clone on the head and thanked her for constantly sitting there and cycling her chakra before walking to the kitchen area. She nodded, not moving from her cross-legged position on the black couch.

Absently, I wondered how much chakra she would have built up by now. I had her sitting there for three days. I wondered how much it would hurt absorbing all of that chakra once I dispelled her.

Shrugging, I made myself onigiri and some green tea, and then headed out to the training area with my sword with leftovers in hand for lunch.

Once there I flowed through all of the katas I've been taught and experimented a little with my flexibility in battle.

It wasn't even half past five when I got a summons from Tsunade. Excited to see my friend/kage, I sprinted to her office and entered through the window, as per usual. I smirked and pushed open the large glass, laughing that she had left it unlocked for me.

She was turned around in her huge chair, already drunk and still drinking more sake. She seemed to be in a good mood so I didn't question her drinking so early in the day.

"How about you share?" I teased. She tossed over a sealed bottle from somewhere in her bottom drawer and I cracked it open, taking a huge swig.

"I know you barely have enough time for yourself, and that your training is important…" She began, suddenly more serious than she was before.

Oh no. Mission time.

"…But there's a rising star I need you to protect. Two days. It pays well. S-rank. 6 million Gold Ryo. You're stealthy and there will be a lot of attention on this mission, that's why I need you." She explained.

"Who in fuck is after her if the pay is so high? Akatsuki themselves?" I glared. Was she seriously sending me on a death mission? I had the remaining Uchiha fucking bloodline to save!

She chuckled so I relaxed.

"You know how showbiz works, it's all rumors. There _is_ someone after Aoi Hana's life, however. Seven days from now on Crescent Moon Island, a major ninja drama is coming out for the civilians.

"Aoi-san has a main role in the film. She is going to play a Kunoichi from the fictional land of Summer. She's going to fall in love with a ninja from the equally fictional land of Winter.

"Anyway, the producer made many enemies since he has a habit of drinking to help him write plot. He gets so blasted drunk he doesn't remember anything or anyone so we have no idea who it could be, except that they will strike the hour after the first episode is released during a talk show discussing the first episode. Naturally, Aoi-san will be on that show.

"You need to find and kill or capture the threat before that show airs. He or she sent a note stating that Aio-san will die in front of everyone, dooming the series. Which I will be pissed at, because I want to watch it. Anyway, rumors are circulating now saying that Akatsuki will appear to take her out.

"We have no way of confirming this. That is why they wanted to hire the stealthiest from the leaf. That would be you." She explained, which I Frankly thought was bullshit. Kakashi was stealthier in my opinion.

There was also another issue… Freakin' Akatsuki would TOTALLY take on a high-paying easy mission like that. Kill some stupid civilian to doom an entire TV series? Hell yeah. If I were Kakuzu and could make quick, easy money like htat I would do it in a heartbeat.

Shit, she might be dead already if _he's _on the case. Was it even worth it going?

"Oh… well that's all good and well and stuff, but you see… Kakuzu _would _take a mission like that if it had wonderful monetary compensation tacked onto it, you know… he's Akatsuki's "money" guy… I mean I'm pretty sure I can take his ass out if he's not with Hidan… but still…" I moped a little, trying to get her to see my picture.

"They really would take a mission like that?" Tsunade glared at the table. She wanted to help me increase my funds, but she didn't want me to die either. I understood, really. But still…

"Only Hidan and Kakuzu would. Itachi doesn't kill needlessly and Deidara's too flashy. Sasori's too noticeable as well as Kisame. Pein and Konan are busy with other things (hopefully each other 'cause God knows they both need it) and the others are busy nurturing other endeavors…" I explained, logically narrowing down the akatsuki to the two people who would be most likely to take and complete the job.

"But it's unlikely that Hidan would go… A civilian is a "worthless sacrifice", and I doubt he'll want to ruin his ritualistic shit to kill and turn in a girl for a bounty. I'm pretty sure he's religiously fasting too or something." I snorted and started to laugh. Tsunade didn't get it. It made sense if you understood the muslim religion.

She shrugged and let out a great sigh.

"So you think you can do it alone? Do you want me to send Sakura in with you just incase?" She asked. I was going to get stuck doing this no matter what, regardless of Hidan being a possible threat. Did she really have that much faith in me?

**Don't go… I have a bad feeling…**

_You say that as if I have a choice… Oh well it pays good. Why not? _

"You know what…" I mulled this over my head. "I wouldn't mind splitting the money with her. Sure." I was probably being masochistic again, but whatever. The bitch needed to learn to get along with me and maybe I could teach her a thing or two so she wouldn't be so useless.

"All right, you leave tomorrow. Pack some summer clothes. That island is nearly as hot as hell itself." Tsunade grimaced. I guess she _did _seem to be more of a spring person. I shrugged and nodded, deciding to go shopping for some clothes.

Tsunade tossed the mission scroll at me as I left. I caught it and took another swig of sake.

"Yo, you mind if I take this with me?" I drawled holding up the sake bottle with my back to her at the doorway.

"Take it, but you owe me a night out and some dinner." She joked.

"Hai, hai ho-ka-ge-sama." I drawled. Tsunade laughed and I dodged a crumpled scrap of paper that flew at my head. I stuck my tongue out at her and left the office the normal way for once.

As soon as my door was shut I ran into… you guessed it!

…

…

…

…

Danzo.

His one ugly eye looked from the sake bottle to me. Sai was with him. I eyed the emotionless boy. He stared straight ahead.

I glared at Danzo, trying not to openly threaten him. What a sick bastard…. Stunting people's emotions like that… He cocked an eyebrow.

Oops. Silly me. Am I radiating killing intent?

"With intent like that, one who did not know better would assume you a criminal… and a traitor to this village…" He murmured; as if he was trying not to threaten me in a subtle way. What a prick!

"At least I haven't done anything to wrong the people working under me, asshole. And before you go and harass _my _hokage you should probably re-evaluate your own life before trying to control hers!" I snapped angrily.

There, I made it about him harassing Tsunade, instead of about him as a person.

Sai's dark eyes landed on me. I gave him a sympathetic look that I don't believe he understood.

I had to do something to help him… but what the hell was he doing here with Danzo so soon? Did Tsunade have something planned already?

Whatever, I glared at the stoic man one last time and walked down the spiral staircase of the tower. Fucking Dick-face-Danzo…

Y'know… I kind of like that nickname…

-X-

Konoha was a constant spring-y seventy degrees all year-round. Not too hot; not too cold.

I was used to being a little more covered up, so I shivered in the sixty-five degree early morning weather. I was waiting at the gate for Sakura dressed in a pair of black leggings that only reached my knees and a matching black cut-off, mesh-under-cloth shirt. I was wearing more open, black nin sandals as well.

Sakura showed up, glaring at my curves and my boobs. Jealousy was so, so viciously ugly… I fiddled with my sword, its familiar hilt comforting me in my stress.

"Ohayo… _taicho_…" She spat as if she should have been captain instead. I glared at her.

"Listen. This mission is going to take teamwork." I lectured her. She froze as if that one word brought up bad memories. That was what I was aiming for.

"I don't know what your problem is with me, but I can assure you that even though I may seem as if I dropped out of the fucking sky a year and a half ago, I swear I'm loyal to this village. It's the only home I have now, whether you're suspicious of me or not." I snapped, arms now crossed.

" If you agree to cooperate with me I can teach you some things that will make you more useful, but I will say it does suck to have to bribe you to work together with me. You have a teammate who defected and left you behind. You and your other teammate have suffered since then and I suppose you of all people would understand that teamwork and watching each other's backs are both imperative for success." There was the guilt… I could see it working. Her eyes were shining a different emotion now.

" We could die. You heard akatsuki may or may not be involved in this one, so let's set our differences aside and do what we have to." I explained and stuck out my hand. She looked apologetic, and shook it.

"You don't have to bribe me to get me to work together. You're right on all counts." She said softly, not letting go of my hand. I stood there awkwardly. I wasn't good with this kind of shit. Um… could I have my hand back now? Pleaaase?

"I'm sorry for treating you like an outsider… I should know better what with Naruto and all…" She mumbled. "I'd like to train under you anyway. It's no secret you surpassed Tsunade-shisho a few months ago… she told me herself. I would be honored to be your friend and student, if you'll have me…" She blushed, embarrassed.

It must have been hard to swallow her pride. I was a few years older than her and she was asking me for help, admitting that I had surpassed a sannin, which I doubted to be a hundred percent true.

I'm sure Tsunade could still kick my ass. Chakra capacity didn't mean shit if your body naturally didn't want to use it. My skills lay in stealth and extensive knowledge of this world. That's really it. If you took that away… If I had been born here I'd probably have been a civilian… like I was before all that shit happened back home…

I shook my head and let go of her hand.

"Don't apologize. I'd be happy to teach you. Let's get going, Sakura-chan." I smiled. It was semi-fake because I didn't know how to act right around girlier girls than me, but whatever. I set off at a quick pace.

About fifteen minutes later, I noticed Sakura was struggling, so I stopped on a tree branch a few miles outside of Konoha.

"First thing we're going to do when we get back is ask Gai-sense to train you along side of me. You would do well to increase your speed…" _You'll eventually need it if Sasuke still decides to fuck us all…_

She nodded, apologized for being slow and we continued.

-X-

Five days later, we met with the director and Aoi Hana-san herself at a restaurant near the ocean.

Sakura seemed nostalgic and I remembered that she and Naruto had been here before during that one movie. She looked sad. She must have wished that Sasuke was there with them at the time.

Whatever. Hana was hot. She was the most beautiful actress I had ever seen. Hands down was more beautiful than any fat-lipped Angelica Jolie from my world.

She had wavy, long blonde hair that was totally a hundred percent Natural. The shade was somewhere in between Naruto's and Ino's. Not too yellow, but not too white-yellow either.

She had gorgeous, almond-shaped purple eyes and thick, thick lashes that rimmed them.

The best part was… she was so cute! She was kind of like Hinata, except not so shy. She was super nice! She was dressed in a pale pink summer dress and white sandals.

A large, straw summer hat was on her head and her hair was braided toward her side, the tip of the braid falling just past her rib cage in the front.

Sakura was jealous. She felt inferior to her, despite the fact that she could break her in half in less than a fraction of a heartbeat. I merely offered her an encouraging smile and introduced us to the producer.

He was huge. I mean huge. He had greasy-looking short dark hair that was slicked back, and a big, big, HUGE pot belly.

He seemed really distraught and frenzied and a little eccentric, like most artists were, but he was nice either way.

He was very grateful for us. His name was Kazuo Hazuo.

I cracked up when I heard his name. He started laughing when I introduce myself as well.

Sagara Amara and Kazuo Hazuo. It was comical. Both of our names rhymed. Well, mine _almost_ did by technicality.

"I am so sincerely sorry for having to drag both of you young ladies out all the way here." Kazuo apologized. He bowed low in his seated position and nearly slammed his head into the table.

"Don't worry about it. Sakura-chan has been here before and I personally like the tropical weather so we're all good." I appeased.

"Again, I apologize. Anyway, what is the plan to protect Aoi-chan?" He asked.

"We arrived a day early so we could do reconnaissance first. We'll take turns spying under disguise. Of course, one of us, disguised as a personal aid for Aoi-san, will guard her at all times as well. We will try to weed out the murderer for the next couple of days. Worst case scenario if that doesn't work we'll probably just kill him swiftly last second before he strikes; no one will see anything on TV." I explained.

The blonde gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Immediately I bowed. Fuck. I wasn't good with manners or delivering news sugar-coated.

"I apologize for disturbing you. Such is the life of a ninja." I explained in by best Itachi-esque manner. "Regardless you'll have little to nothing to worry about, so try to just relax. Give us the address of the place you're staying at or recording at and we'll arrive disguised. We'll mark our left hands with a red dot so you'll know it's us. Okay?" I explained.

Kazuo nodded and handed us a slip of paper. We disappeared in a flurry of cherry blossoms and black smoke.

-X-

Later I drew a transformation seal on myself and Sakura. I tacked the seals on the bottoms of our feet so no one would see them. All we had to do was pour chakra into the seals every six hours or so and the infallible henge would last. Not even the most skilled of ninja would see through it unless they had Byakugan or Sharingan.

I disguised Sakura as a blue-eyed blonde with a short, curly bob and side-swept bangs.

I disguised myself as a light-brunette with long wavy hair up in a ponytail and brown eyes reminiscent of Mika-chan from the restaurant so long ago. We dressed in summer shorts of different bland shades and t-shirts of different colors and sandals.

I taught Sakura how to seal all her junk into a seal she wanted placed on her stomach so she would always have her weapons on her. Finally ready, we left our hotel room and trekked over to the condo Aoi-chan was staying in.

We knocked on her door and a super _super_ handsome guy answered it.

Sakura blushed. I tried not to gape. He was hot. Really. I'd have his babies. Totally.

But wait a second…

He looked kind of suspiciously like Itachi. He had deep, endless dark eyes, thick lashes and disheveled, black hair in a style almost exactly like Sasori's. He was muscular and his arms were beautiful under his white t-shirt.

He wore a belted pair of black shorts and looked to be lounging about. He gazed down at the red marks on our hands. I glared up at him, my instincts kicking in taking over despite his obvious sexiness.

**But… But… But he's so hoooooooot! **My inner whined.

_He fucking knows. Someone told him about us. Was he spying on us? Is he the enemy? _

**I don't know... or care… **

_Hormonal bitch. _

**Prude. **

"Why do you get to know?" I snapped. Fuck his handsome face. Word of us being here wasn't supposed to be spread! That was written in the details of the mission scroll!

Instantly, Hana appeared next to him, bowing to us in apology.

"I deeply apologize, this is my close friend, Ugau Ishio. He would not agree to anyone being with me at all times, especially a simple aid, so I had to explain it to him…" Hana apologized, rather lamely.

I looked from her back to Ishio.

"Listen, Ishio. I don't know or really care who you are. I promise you, if you speak one single _fucking _word of this to anyone, and I mean _anyone, _that includes anything that breathes, and has had parents, I promise you I'll beat you seven ways to Sunday… us being here wasn't supposed to get leaked and if I find you loose-lipped—

He bowed to interrupt my tirade. Sakura was shocked. I had just threatened someone indescribably beautiful. That was blasphemy in her eyes. Whatever. Fuck that. Itachi was hotter anyway.

"Hana is my childhood friend." He spoke, his hair a flowing, sexy mess as he was bowing.

"It unnerves me to know there are threats on her life. I am much more comfortable now that I am aware you are here for her protection and not merely to do her hair or makeup." He explained stoically.

That was as close to an apology as this guy was going to give. Was he sure his parents weren't distant Uchiha at some point or something?

"Riiiight…" I spoke trying to relax. Hana bowed as well and apologized again, then let us in.

When I was sure there was no one around to spy on us, I reintroduced myself.

"While I look like this you guys have to refer to me as Mika. Don't even use a respectful honorific. I could skewer you guys and you wouldn't know until you hit the afterlife, but when I look like this I'm just a broke girl working as an aid to a famous person to make money, got it?" I explained. "You have to treat me the way I appear."

"Mm." Ishio responded. Very Uchiha-esque. Sakura shuddered. Poor girl… memories of a young Sasuke must be crowding her brain right now…

"And when I'm like this this you can call me Aya." Sakura spoke almost solemnly. We both cut off the flow of chakra to our feet and dropped our henges after that.

"This is what we really look like. Okay? Just incase something goes down and our cover is blown, you'll know who is a safe person and who isn't." I explained to Ishio who just shrugged.

I glared at him. 'Jerk could've just said "okay" or something.

"Hmm, you're right Ishio… you _should _be nonchalant about this. It's not like you could do anything if an Akatsuki attacked anyway." I sniffed, just to piss him off.

He responded with the darkest glare I had ever seen on a man so handsome. Sakura shuddered, those coal, dark eyes all too familiar to her, and stayed quiet but I held my ground.

He had no Sharingan. I feared him not.

Suddenly, I noticed a minute scar on his neck. It was very tiny, but if you've ever saved someone from getting their throat nearly split open you'd know what it looked like.

I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he a ninja at some point? I looked at Hana who gently touched his shoulder.

He relaxed and I refrained from looking surprised… oh… this was too good... They had secret feelings for each other…

Heh Heh… I would let Sakura deal with the emotional mumbo-jumbo.

"I would give my life to save hers…" Ishio quietly, almost inaudibly argued back. I smirked at him. Yes… he so would.

"And that's what makes a real man." I explained.

And then I was back to my regular business-y self.

"I'm going to go do reconnaissance first. I suggest you stay out of the way, Ishio. Not because you'd get in the way, but because I don't want anyone to become suspicious or aggravated at your presence as well as Hana's. If anyone is to attack we want them to think that they absolutely _could _and that no one here is taking the threats seriously like Kazuo-san announced on the news." I explained.

He nodded and stood, Hana's hand sliding off of his shoulder during the action.

"Sakura." I spoke. She nodded, pure determination in her eyes, and channeled chakra to the seals on her feet. "Act stupid if someone nears. Check everything given to her for poison. You know the drill. Be alert, but don't tip anyone off that you're alert, got it?" She nodded, now blonde-haired and blue-eyed. I henged into "Mika" using the same method and retreated, Ishio at my heels.

Like a gentleman he opened the door for me. I walked through and with one last look at Hana he shut the door behind him. There were people coming down the hallway and I immediately fell into character. I bowed so low my body was at a 90 degree angle.

"U-Ugauo-sama! It was an honor running into you!" I squeaked, an air of disorientation about me. Ishio looked shocked at my sudden change of character. Wasn't he used to ninjas doing that by now?

I took a few steps back and bumped into a vase on a decorative hallway table and nearly broke it. Ishio caught it expertly. Like a fucking ninja.

I smirked at him, as the people (crew men I supposed judging by the cameras they were lugging around) stopped to watch us interact from behind me. He gave me a knowing look, as if telling me I was right and flashed me a brilliant smile.

"It was lovely running into you too, Mika-chan. Have a nice day."

"J-Ja-ne!" I squeaked back in my best impression of Hinata. I ran past the crew members, a deep blush on my cheeks and unlocked a vacant room with a room key I received from the front desk in the main lobby of the luxurious building.

Okay. That part was done. I looked like a flustered civilian girl working for the set with a crush on the fantabulous and extremely handsome Ugauo Ishio. Perfect.

As pre-planned Kazuo knocked on my door minutes later and barked orders, but in a nice kind of way. I was going to go survey the camera crew today as they set up for the night scene where Ruriko, the Summer Kunoichi (AKA Hana) would meet with the stoic Winter ninja Ikuto (AKA Ishio).

They were filming the first meeting between the two. It was going to be a botched mission of some sort.

Whatever. I followed the crew and helped set up cameras as diligently and purposefully clumsy as possible. Kazuo threatened to fire me if I dropped a camera. I snorted. He should be an actor himself. He was good at playing along with our game.

A nice young guy named Takuru helped me lift the heavy equipment and put it in place. He was from the lighting group, but was nice enough to come over and help me.

He kinda reminded me of Kabuto in the fact that he was muscular but scrawny at the same time. He was a little taller than me and had brown hair pulled back into a low pony at his nape.

He was kinda dorky like Kabuto too. He didn't have cheesy round glasses or anything, he just acted dorky. It was endearing. He obviously had a crush on me. I pretended not to notice and thanked him for his help.

He retreated back to his group and from the corner of my eyes I saw some taller guy from his group smack him hard on the back.

It was a manly "That's how ya do it" kind of hit. The kind that congratulates you. I smirked to myself as I angled a camera just right.

**Ishio-kun looks a lot like Itachi-kun…**

_I think him and Hana have known each other for a long time. He can't be Itachi in disguise; if that's what you're thinking… _

It was pointless. My inner was going to go there regardless.

**No I mean he's handsome. **

_Just shut up. _

**You're repressing things again… **

_And I'll deal with that later. _

**Riiiight….**

-X-

Sakura's POV

After helping Hana-chan memorize her lines I became better friends with her. She reminded me a lot of Hinata. It was fun being around her. She was so friendly and easy to get along with!

While sipping on iced tea and re-braiding her hair I decided to ask her what was on my mind.

"Ne, Hana-chan?" I asked.

"Hai, Saku— I mean Aya-chan?" Hana spoke, reading a magazine while I practiced braiding. I was never any good at it, but practicing here would help me out on future missions.

"How long have you been friends with Ishio-san?" I asked. She nearly choked on her tea. I patted her back and she coughed, blushing violently. Just like Hinata. I giggled and she laughed along with me.

"Sorry, that was very sudden." She explained.

"I apologize, Hana-cha, I was just curious. My best friend at home is a hound for gossip and I couldn't help but fall prey to her habits this time…" I apologized while blushing. Hana giggled and continued flipping through her magazine.

"We've been friends since childhood. I met Ishio when I was five. Our parents both died in an uncontrollable fire in the waterfall country. Ishio became a ninja to make money to support us since he was older. I landed a small-scale modeling job to pay the bills. When I landed this role and started making more money, Ishio quit his life as a ninja to accompany me." She looked regretful. My heart went out to her.

If either Naruto or Sasuke-kun had ever quit their lives as shinobi for me I'd feel _awful_…

"I… I wasn't strong enough o become a ninja… I wanted to but it wasn't the kind of life that suited me. Everything was wrong about me becoming a ninja. I was floored when he said he would go with me to this island. He accompanied me when I met with Kazuo-san to leave. Kazuo said he was a 'picture-perfect Ikuto' and from then on we practiced lines together. He helped me act out the ninja scenes of the first two episodes because it's just what comes naturally to him." She spoke fondly as she played with the corner of a page.

I'm pretty sure my mouth was O-shaped. That's… _dedication_…

"That's sweet of him…" I responded. Hana sniffed, starting to cry. I hugged her instinctively.

"I feel like such a burden to him. He wanted to be a ninja since before our parents died and I selfishly made him leave the village he was supposed to be a ninja in! They gave us so many problems because of it!" She wailed.

I narrowed my eyes at this. This was important. Maybe the waterfall country was trying to send people in to kill her to get Ishio back to them? What secrets could such a small country harbor that would cause them to be so paranoid after losing a single shinobi? Or was Ishio just that good of a shinobi that his departure was a major los…?

"Hana-chan; I'm sure Ishio-san wouldn't have left if you weren't important to him. Some things are more important to people than their own villages…" I explained, thinking of Sasuke…

Sasuke's vengeance was more important to him than either myself or Naruto. That stung… but Sasuke's whole family was dead. Maybe… maybe if my whole family was killed I would be like that too…

What I said seemed to comfort her because she nodded, and continued reading her magazine, thankful to me for letting her talk about it.

-X-

Amara's POV

I knocked on the door to Hana's condo. It was Sakura's turn to do reconnaissance. We accompanied Hana to hair and makeup, and then helped her into her nin clothes, which consisted of a black bodysuit and boots, above which she wore a black dress. It was similar to what the Mizukage wore, but less flashy.

We followed her to the beach, where she would be shooting a fight scene between her and her three-man cell and Ishio and his fictional three-man-cell.

It was clear that the red-haired-black-eyed male on her team had feelings for the fictional Ruriko-chan. He didn't notice the weaker green-haired-gold-eyed girl on his team struggling with two enemy nin at once.

That guy was a damned good actor…

They practiced the first two minutes of the scene over and over until they got it right. I was getting swamped. This was like… watching an anime… within an anime.

It was cool. I tried not to be too uptight about paying more attention to the drama. Sakura was handing drinks and wet towels to crewmen in an effort to "get to know them better".

She told me about Ishio and Hana and their screw up with Waterfall country. She was going to try and find out if any crewmember there was someone from Waterfall though I doubted anyone would actually reveal something like that if they really were trying to murder Hana.

I watched as Ishio and Hana danced through irrelevant hand symbols. Special effects crews blasted fire and water on Hana's part as if it were cool. It really wasn't spectacular. Ishio countered with actual ninjutsu.

_That_ was freaking cool. His affinity was lightning. I would bet a thousand dollars he was a distant Uchiha. _Only_ a thousand though.

"Back off, Winter!" Hana shouted angrily. Wow. She was doing a good job seeming angry. Maybe this was her way of breaking out of her Hinata-esque personality for a while.

"Hm." He responded and danced around a strike of her tanto. He pulled out a kunai and they battled like that for a while. Their fight scene had to be redone several times before Kazuo liked it.

I found it funny that Ishio and his character were lightning and water chakra types, even thought he rest of his team was hurling snow and ice at the other insignificant characters. Maybe his character was originally from the Land of Summer? It would make a good plot line.

Suddenly, Ishio had slammed Hana into a palm tree so hard that coconuts fell from it. I winced at her exhale of breath. He wasn't kidding around. I tensed, wondering if he was the one who was the murderer… but then… magic happened.

Ishio's eyes softened at "Ruriko's" curses. He leant over and whispered something in her ear that would not be revealed until later episodes. Ruriko opened her mouth to speak, but was caught in a genjutsu.

Her red-haired teammate roared in anger as he saw her slump over and charged at Ishio. Ishio's team retreated. Before he left, he whispered, mysteriously…

"Ruriko…" They were gone in a flurry of snow courtesy of the special effects group.

That was actually pretty freakin' good! I clapped like a dork and cheered for Ishio who flashed me a charming smile.

Sakura, still in henge walked up to me and tapped my shoulder. She looked distraught. Fuck.

"Taicho…" She whispered. "I felt a presence in the surrounding jungle… I went to investigate but it was gone. I think we should station a few clones around the condos tonight to see if they come back."

Grimly I nodded. I had a better plan than what she had in mind, but it would still work the same one way or another.

-X-

Later that night, I dropped Sakura off with Hana and went for a little trek in the jungle with Kuro. I found nothing. No one. I didn't worry though. Murderers always slipped up, one way or another. And if there wasn't one amongst the crew the little fucker would show up the day of the live talkshow. I had a plan for then as well.

-X-

The next night it was different. I left a clone that looked like "Mika" in the company of a genjutsu'd Takuru. His boner was so big I could see it clear through his shorts.

As he talked within his genjutsu to my clone just outside the condo, I heard a rustling in the bushes while disguised with Kuro in my arms. He had grown bigger and now preferred to chill pressed against my boobs.

I saw Sasuke peek through the bushes at my clone. His Sharingan was on and he looked confused. The henge seal was screwing with what he was seeing. Heh heh…

I cleared my throat and uncloaked myself. Sasuke whipped around, Kusanagi in hand. I held up my one hand, Kuro purring in my other arm. Sasuke relaxed.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked.

"Looking for you. You owe me information." He responded calmly, proffessionally.

**Sasuke-kuuuuuuuuun!**

_Will you shut it? We're not thirteen! _

"I don't owe you shit, and I certainly don't owe you shit while I'm on a mission. Go find Tsuande and ask her. She can tell you what you need to know." I snapped. What if the real murderer was out here? What if Sasuke was the fucking murderer?

This. Was. NOT. COOL.

He glared at me.

"I'll return with you." With that he shunshinned away. I don't know where to. I dispelled the genjutsu and the clone and afterwards, Takuru looked confused. In his mind a sexy, sexy civilian girl was stroking him… with her lips. Oh well.

I retreated to my room; not surprised to find Sasuke lounging on my bed like he fucking owned it. I glared at him. His fucking feet were on the sheets and his shoes were still on…. Motherfucker…

His Sharingan spinned lazily as he looked at me looking at his fucking disgusting muddy sandals.

"Feet. Off. The. Bed. Uchiha." I spoke, dropping my henge.

"Information first." He held up a finger to punctuate his sentence. Snob.

"Ugh."

-X-

Three exhausting hours and four Sharingan checks for lies later, Sasuke finally believed what was coming out of my mouth and agreed to come back to Konoha with me to see Itachj's mission scroll Tsunade had an anbu pilfer from Danzo.

He was still in disbelief somewhat but he said he remembered Itachi crying, he just wasn't sure if he was delusional or not at the time. He had lost a lot of blood that night.

"So… are you just going to lounge here, or are you going to help me?" I asked, exhausted. He cocked an eyebrow. I sighed.

"My mission. If you want to see that scroll faster we're going to have to weed out the murderer faster." I explained. Sasuke smirked. He knew something. I glared at him.

"Something better not have 'slipped' your mind…" I glowered. Kuro jumped onto my shoulder and glared at Sasuke as best as a cat could glare.

"If I said I may know who the intended murderer is… would you teach me the technique you're using right now?" He asked. Sasuke knew how to bargain. Fuck.

That was two people I was supposed to teach it to now… Ugh.

"Fine but you better be useful." Sasuke nodded and henged into Ishio. He stood up and walked over to me very purposefully. He opened the door behind me and shoved me against the door of Ishio's apartment. I henged into "Mika" just as Sakura (henged as Aya) and Hana walked up the stairs.

Sasuke-Ishio pressed his hips into mine where I felt a massive, raging boner protrude. I blushed and stuttered as his lips descended upon mine.

What… the… _fuck_…were we doing? Controlled by something I could only identify as lust I kissed back and wrapped my mostly bare legs around his waist. I was too shy to push back as Mika… Also this was _Sasuke. _No matter how adult his brain seemed right now, he was still younger than me and this was just wrong on so many levels I _almost_ wanted to vomit into his mouth.

Whatever Sasuke's plan was… it had better be good. This was fucking embarrassing. And Immoral.

"I-Ishio!" Hana gasped at the end of the hallway. I peeked an eye open. Sasuke's henge was shoddy. Sakura could see through it. She knew who he was. She looked shocked and abhorrent but she played along when I gave her three hands signs familiar to all Konoha shinobi: Play along… this one is on our side.

Sasuke-Ishio dropped me as he backed away and stared at Hana in fake shock and I fell to the floor in a heap. Hana blushed madly and ran past Sasuke-Ishio, Sakura hot on her heels.

Sasuke-Ishio's hand shot out and landed on her shoulder, stopping her just as Hana's door slammed shut.

"This is where your reconnaissance really begins." He spoke and walked back into my room, slamming the door shut behind him. Sakura slumped to her knees once it was just me and her in the hallway and held her hand to her chest.

"Um… that wasn't for real… I really don't like him like that and I had no control over that… But I see where he's coming from. She's truly alone now, vulnerable… if anyone is to strike they will in her moment of weakness…" I explained even though my heart was traitorously pounding in my chest.

Whatever. I knew a few crewmembers had walked by and seen what was going on. I felt them when my eyes were closed. Rumors would soon spread fast…

Damn… When was the last time I was kissed like that? My heart ached and I suddenly remembered… I remembered then why I didn't want to remember…

-X-

Sakura and I downed a lot of sake that night at some local bar. I told her that I had convinced Sasuke to come to our side but I wasn't about to blab why. I said she would have to be patient and wait for him to tell her himself. It was a rough night, trying to appease her.

I stumbled back to my condo around three in the morning and Sakura snuck into Hana's room to watch her. I dragged a sleeping Sasuke off of my bed and told him to go find his own damn bed.

-X-

The next day Hana gave Ishio the cold shoulder. The poor idiot had no idea what was going on. He looked to me for advice but I just shook my head.

We had a small break midday so Sakura, Sasuke and I convened in my room. Sasuke had slept that night in the bathtub and was quite cranky as a result. He sat on my bed, arms crossed as Sakura drilled him for information.

"Why won't you tell me!"

"Because it's none of your business." He spat back. Sasuke was getting pissed. Of course, only Sakura could piss him off so easily. She took after her shisho quite well.

"Fuck that; I don't get to know because why? I'm not strong enough? What's so fucking different about Amara that she gets to know!" Sakura spat.

Sasuke's fingers twitched. He looked like he was about raise his hands to his head and rip his hair out.

"She knew on her own!" He defended snapping an accusing finger at me. Sakura glared in my direction. I stood near the small kitchenette with my fingers pinching the bridge of my nose.

"God will you two just kiss and fucking make up already? I'm too old for this shit." I grumbled, grabbed my mug of tea, henged into "Mika" and walked out to trail Hana from a distance. I henged into multiple objects nearby her and always kept her in my sight. Infiltrating her condo was disgustingly easy. There was only one seal protecting her door and it was one made my Ishio.

I supposed since she had knocked him out of her life, he got worried and decided to protect her as best as he could from a distance. Poor Ishio. She wasn't even giving him a chance to explain.

Stupid Sasuke… he always created drama, didn't he?

Regardless the seal wasn't complicated and I broke in easily. If Akatsuki was out to assassinate Hana, she was fucked and that seal wouldn't do shit to help her. If a civilian was out to get her, or plant a trap or something, she would have been safe.

She cried often. Only once had someone knocked on her door.

It was Takuru. That dorky kid. He gave her a bouquet that wasn't threatening as far as I could tell and wanted to know if she wanted him to pose as her boyfriend for the talkshow to rub Ishio's loss into his face. She chuckled and told him no, but she would appreciate his company anyway, sending the young dork on his way whilst simultaneously rejecting him. Ouch.

That must have been some secret girl-jutsu or something. How do you complement and thank someone while rejecting their offer to be yours? That was some seriously complicated shit.

-X-

It was _finally_ the hour the talk show was going to air. I was right about what I mentioned before. A murderer will always slip up somehow. In the crowd, watching the show I sensed killing intent though it was so suppressed or so small I wasn't sure who it was coming from.

I was disguised as Hana. She hated me now because of the whole Sasuke-henged-as-Ishio thing, but agreed to my plan.

I was seated on a couch across from a talk show host between Ishio and Takuru (who was pretending to be a professional drama-critic). I had an earpiece in my ear. They were asking questions and I was obediently responding with the words the real Hana was feeding to me while disguised as "Mika" somewhere hidden in the crowd, next to Sakura who was disguised as Aya.

They were general questions. "Is there any romance off set?" I declined to respond, shyly blushing. "How do you feel being a civilian but playing the role of a ninja?" Things like that.

Suddenly three kunai were hurled at me. The "murderer" was some scumbag from Waterfall. I dodged expertly and Sasuke took his ass out easily, dropping from the rafters of the studio above and splitting the guy's head open with a kunai, the momentum from his fall helping him destroy the guy.

Even I was amazed as I stared at the scene. So many civilian onlookers freaked out at that and started to scramble.

Just when we thought it was over, I felt a pinprick in my side and stared with wide eyes at Takuru, who was smirking evilly, retracting an empty needle from my side. He turned tail and ran around back through the chaos, thinking he had gotten Hana.

Tch. Dork.

I launched after him, dropping my henge, chakra pumping to my legs to lend me extra speed. I caught up with him in seconds. We were backstage at this point. Shit was dropping from the ceiling as equipment fell, people screamed and ran from the audience, the announcer was huddled in some corner, praying to kami-sama.

It was chaos in a basket wrapped with a pretty red bow.

I threw two kunai at the backs of Takuru's knees. He slumped over, his legs useless. Now he was afraid. He turned over, now on his back.

"Who hired you." I loomed above him, aggravated. His stupid eyes widened.

"N-No one!" He whimpered. "I-I was j-jealous of Ishio! If I can't have Hana no one can!" He screamed and lunged at my legs to do God only knew what. The poison he used was starting to numb me, but I still unsealed my sword and cut his head clean off his shoulders before he could stab me with anything else.

Immediately, I began healing myself. I met Sakura, Sasuke, Kazuo, Hana and Ishio in Hana's condo when I had worked most of the poison out of my system.

"Wh-wh-Who are y-y-you?" Hana asked Sasuke. She had seen him kill. She was afraid. Sasuke sighed and henged into Ishio.

"An imposter." He explained. Recognition and realization suddenly dawned on her and she shot Ishio an apologetic look, who shot me and Sasuke a dirty glare. He wasn't sure what had gone on, but he was sure we were behind Hana's recent coldness towards him.

Oopsie…

Anyway, Kazuo was on his knees bowing before us.

"Thank you so much you three; that was perfect!" he exclaimed. I glared at him.

"Two assholes died today and you're_ thanking_ me?" I snapped. That wasn't normal. Most people would be afraid and apologizing for making someone kill. Oh well whatever.

"My show will get so much attention! I wanted the killer to be found before the show, but that action during the show was amazing! That is something unforgettable! You've made us all millionaires whilst saving our lives! Amazing! Simply astounding!"

I face-faulted. Seriously? Really?

"Yeah you better share that fucking wealth for the trouble…" I murmured just underneath my breath. Kazuo looked up apologetically. I had a feeling there was going to be a huuuuuuuge bonus in the payment Tsunade was going to receive.

"Please, take this extra money to your Hokage as gratitude. I am grateful to you shinobi!"

He presented a scroll and I took it, sealing it away.

Ishio bowed low like the director and Hana bent over in a bow as well.

"Miss Sagara! I would also like to cordially ask you and your partner if you could play a part in my show! I will compensate you greatly for your time away from your shinobi careers!" He offered us. Sakura looked at me, blushing. She really wanted to, too… I gave her a bad poker face… That was NOT going to happen.

"You would be perfect for the role of Ikuto's lover!" He explained. He looked desperate. "And Sakura-chan, you would be perfect as Ruriko's long-lost sister and rival for Ikuto's love!"

"Unfortunately, I can't make myself known. I have something to accomplish that fame and money would botch if I were to seize them now." I explained. "…but you're welcome to take Sakura." But then I smirked. "Even Sasuke here would probably henge into a pretty hot-looking chick if he really put his hormones into it!" I laughed and clapped the aggravated Uchiha on the back.

Sasuke stared at me like I had just grown a second head and Sakura laughed at his expense.

The director shook his head.

"You shinobi are an interesting lot. But again, thank you so much, Sagara-san. It was a pleasure doing business with you and the village hidden in the leaves."

Kazuo rose, as did Ishio and Hana straightened. I shook Ishio's hand. The man nodded, pleased that we had prevented Hana's death. I shook Hana's hand as well. She gave me a sad, apologetic smile and I shook my head, telling her as best as I could that she didn't have to worry about being so icy towards me.

Sakura glomped Hana and bowed to Ishio. Sasuke remained indifferent. We all left after that.

We took our time getting back to Konoha. I spent some time teaching Sasuke and Sakura how to use the chakra cycling technique and taught them how they could incorporate clones into the process and when it was best for them to stop cycling and give themselves some rest.

Five days later, we were at the village gates. Sasuke had warmed up a little, though he still acted like he had a stick up the ass.

We were unceremoniously greeted by four or five anbu. They all seemed to be glaring at Sasuke beneath their masks.

Sasuke surrendered, though Sakura and I took minute steps in front of him. In the subtle art of ninja body language that meant "fuck off".

"I have a mission to deliver him to Tsunade that I never completed." I explained and showed them the scroll. They let up and let us pass through.

We traveled through the trees as stealthily as possible.

Sakura seemed to be getting aggravated at Sasuke rather easily. I was proud of her. Not once did she gush around Sasuke or toss herself at him.

She was actually ripping him a new one every time she could. I had to admit, he kind of deserved it for leaving her on a bench.

"Oh look Sasuke… doesn't that bench look familiar…" Sakura drawled in a sarcastically sweet tone.

"Hn. It does kind of look familiar. I remember tears and someone saying 'take me with you!'" Sasuke mocked in a high-pitched tone, fake anime tears streaming down his cheeks as he waved his hands comically in the air.

He gave Sakura a cold glare when she punched his shoulder in response. Heh heh… She was as good as Naruto. Nice!

-X-

Ooookay so I hope that was more eventful! Let me know! REVIEW!


	5. 20 Questions

REWRITTEN |5|

(Song to listen to during this flashback: Impossible by Manafest)

_Punch. Kick. Dodge. Roll. Block. _

_Punch. Punch. Parry. Back flip. Dodge. Dodge. _

_First mission. I was scared. I was alone. I was being watched by my superiors. _

_Block. Block. Block. Dodge. FUCK; this guy was fast! _

_We were in a lab. A virus was sitting on the table. It was just created. China wanted it. Japan and the United States wanted to destroy it. _

…_Or at least that's what they said. _

_The Chinese man in black was surprised that a seventeen-year-old girl could put up a fight. _

_He drew his gun. It was a Glock. Shitty weapon. _

_He pistol-whipped the left side of my face. Now I was dizzy. I jumped back a few feet. It was all he needed. _

_It was all I needed too. _

_He aimed. _

_My heart raced. _

_That weapon…. So small and black… could end my life if I didn't time this correctly. _

_Click… almost in slow motion I saw his index finger entice the trigger… _

_Boom. _

_I had moved pre-emptively, and drew my katana simultaneously. _

_I recovered from my cartwheel and shot forward. _

_Bang. He shot again. _

_Missed. Three feet… _

_Bang! He shot again. _

_Missed again. Two feet…. _

_Bang!_

_I jumped to the side; there was a pain in my right shoulder. I screwed up. _

_Fuck it. _

_I ROARED. _

_He didn't have time to shoot again. I had severed the hand with the gun at the wrist. He kicked out at me. _

_I took the foot to the stomach, just to have the satisfaction of slapping him in the face with the side of my blade. _

_He flew to the side, now unstable from blood loss. _

_Now he was panicked, cursing in his tongue. _

"_Kill him." Whispered the voice in my ear. _

_I wished they weren't watching me. I didn't want to end lives. I wanted to save them… _

"_Kill him." The man through the earpiece commanded again; this time in a demanding tone. I hesitated minutely. _

_There was no going back from killing… This blood would forever stain my hands… _

"_You know what will happen to you and your sister if you do not." _

_Shit. It was him or us… him… or my sister… SHIT…. _

_I screamed, now in a psychotic rage. This was SO fucked up! _

_No one was going to banish my little sister to the streets where she would suffer. Not her. They could do what they wanted with me. But they couldn't touch her!_

_Schlink! I'm sorry… God I'm so sorry… Please I'm so sorry…. _

_The man's eyes were still open. His last scream died in his mouth as his severed head flew off of his neck. _

_I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… _

_It spun in the air for a moment, then fell to the floor and rolled. _

_The impending panick attack was threatening to escape my lungs. _

_I had killed someone…. _

_I resisted the urge to scream and cry. This was against everything I believed in. _

_That was a life that died for money. _

_**Money**__. Paper. INSIGNIFICANT pieces of paper that could cause so much terror with so little effort. _

_Money made the world turn, didn't it? _

_Without money my sister and I would suffer in some orphanage. _

_Money._

_It was all anyone ever lived for these days… _

_That was incontestably __**wrong**__. _

_That wasn't… right… _

_Money was insignificant. __**It mattered not**__. _

_**It didn't matter**__. _

_This unfortunate Chinese man who probably had a wife and children and a fucking __**dog **__DIED for a matter that wasn't really a matter at all. _

_Disgusting. _

_But fine. I'll walk through this hell. I'll take this path. As long as my sister could smile; I'll take this path. _

_Fuck it. Fuck it all. It was too late now anyway. Fuck it. Just. Fuck. It. _

_I… who… who am I, __**really**__? _

-x-

"This screws everything up." Tsunade growled. Her boobs jiggled as she picked up a bottle of sake and gulped down nearly half of it. Maybe bright ideas came to her when she drank too… like Kazuo…

I frowned and crossed my arms, then stealthily gazed to my right at Sasuke. He didn't outwardly appear nervous, but if you understood body language and psychology you would notice the very slight tenseness in all of his muscles.

He was stressed; probably because he had no idea what was going to happen to him. I made no promises. The kid had to have some serious balls to actually come back here.

I wish I could tell him not to worry; that he wasn't the problem here. Sakura was. Her knowing about Sasuke's return was a problem. A big one. It could stunt Naruto's development into the shinobi I knew him as.

Tsunade would probably deck me if I said anything, though. Hard. … And then she'd take me out for a drink or ten… So I kept my mouth shut; not that I wouldn't be excited for the booze part… the Godaime Hokage was certainly rubbing off on me.

"Sakura." Tsunade addressed. She was a pro at hiding her inebriation. No doubt the room was freakin' spinning to her by now. I'm surprised she could even lock eyes with the pinkette.

"H-Hai?" Sakura looked afraid. The way Tsunade said her name…. that tone was never good.

Tsunade sighed in a motherly manner and stood up. Sakura took a step back and I watched as she figured out Tsunade's trail of thoughts.

"I won't let you seal my memories!" She screamed, and then leapt backwards a few feet. She began to cycle her chakra faster; rebuilding it as she was gathering it into her fists.

Tsunade gaped at her and I smirked. She was smart; what part of that did Tsunade forget so suddenly? Sasuke watched the two interact with a quiet and very much hidden curiosity.

He plastered a fake bored expression on his face, like he was a pro at it or something. Tch. He'd have to apprentice under Kakashi a little longer for it to look believable.

"Sakura, I can't have you knowing this sensitive information. Sasuke coming back was supposed to be kept secret." Tsunade tried to reason.

"So, what… was he just supposed to be trapped in some corner where no one could see him!? Or were you going to put a henge seal on him? Hmm? What would happen if Neji or Hinata ran across him with their byakugan? Or Kakashi-sensei with his Sharingan?" Sakura was pissed. She had a point though. Could Tsunade really hide Sasuke in the village for long?

Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temples.

"I swear Naruto is rubbing off on you…" The blonde mumbled. "Fine. Keep your memories, but if I find you interfering with his missions or training, I _will _find you off guard and seal that knowledge away. Do you understand? The whole future depends on you keeping this an absolute secret." She explained. "Naruto can't ever know."

Sakura became very serious and looked at me curiously. I just shrugged in mock-innocence. I couldn't exactly tell her what I knew of the possible future...

She would start to hate herself then beef herself up so she wouldn't be so useless. I don't know if Naruto would appreciate that very much when he got back… One hit from her and he'd be out for a week, Kyuubi chakra to help him heal or not.

"Anyway. I have orders for you three. Sakura, you are to report to training under Hatake Kakashi tomorrow morning at three-thirty am. No questions asked. _Dismissed_."

Sakura gaped at her for a minute but nodded and poofed away in a mini explosion of cherry blossoms after waving at Sasuke and jokingly sticking her tongue out at me. I had smiled back but by then she was gone.

"As for you two…" She sat back in her chair, rolling backwards a bit before the wall behind her stopped her. She had managed to grab a bottle of sake off of her desk before her chair started to slide and was now drinking heavily from it.

"As for you two…" She murmured again. As if she didn't know how to organize us in her mind. Sasuke very faintly cocked an eyebrow. Dopey kid. He thought he was such hot shit.

She sighed and looked at Sasuke.

"As far as Konoha is concerned you are still a missing nin though not under Orochimaru's tutelage anymore. Amara will create a henge seal for you. Try to avoid Hatake Kakashi, Shimura Danzo, and all Hyuuga. The seal works against even the strongest shinobi but it is weak against doujutsu. You and Amara will…heh… train…under each other." She spoke and waited for me to flip out.

So I did.

"What!? What could Sasuke possibly know how to do that I need to know how to do!" I snapped. She glared at me, and sipped more sake, then slammed it down on her desk.

"Ninjutsu. Baka." She snapped. I gaped. Okay… she had a point there…

"Fiiiine." I grumbled. I sucked at ninjutsu. My body refused to let me use the chakra to do it. But honestly, didn't my skills as a medic make up for that?

"And Sasuke you will learn chakra control and kenjutsu under Amara. Once I find you both proficient enough Amara's mission will begin."

What? Already?

"What!? Already!?" I stared at her with round, confused eyes. Infiltrate Akatsuki? Already? That wasn't supposed to happen until later!

"I'm changing the plans a little bit, thanks to Shikaku of course, so you know it can't fail." She reasoned. "It might be a little bit different than we planned but it'll work the same regardless…"

I felt stupid for the first time in a long time. What the f_uck_ was she talking about?

"Instead of infiltrating Akatsuki, we're going to create a boogeyman to smoke them out." She explained. "Then hit them head on."

I gaped dopily at her again. This was… fucking… genius….

"So I get to create a whole TEAM of missing nin!?" I must've looked like a little kid on Christmas because Tsunade chuckled at me.

"You and Sasuke." She corrected.

My face fell.

"Why Sasuke." I glared at her. "I can do it on my own." I sniffed. Sasuke stiffened. I was emasculating him. Good. Jerk needed to know who was boss here.

Guess Uchiha didn't like strong women who "don't need no man"?

"It'll be his probation. Extensive service to the leaf. Playing the hero role, so to speak, rather than having Naruto take all the glory, these two will share it when the time comes." She explained cryptically. She didn't want Sasuke to know.

I mulled this over… Was that really the smartest plan? I supposed that at some point, we'd come across Itachi so whatever, it can't be THAT bad…

"All right." I conceded, my hands up.

"You both have a month to train before you leave. Amara, I believe you will know what to do once outside the village. I expect perfect teamwork. Got it?"

"Yep."

"Hn."

-X-

I henge-sealed Sasuke into a brown-haired, blue-eyed teenage version of Obito. We went to my apartment, and then to the market to buy extra food; primarily tomatoes; a futon and some bland clothes. Everything was done in silence. This included stocking up the fridge once we were home and setting up Sasuke's bedroll where the coffee table used to be.

It was only a matter of time…

"Who gets to teach who first?" He finally asked. Took 'im long enough!

"I'll teach you first. It'll go quicker. In two weeks you will be a master of kenjutsu and chakra control. You already have the chakra cycling thing down. Your clone can teach my clone to weave more complicated genjutsu in the meantime. I want my genjutsu to be good enough to make your brother look twice. I also want you to genjutsu the shit out of me and have me break out of it. Then I'm going to practice genjutsu with sound on you."

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. He was sitting cross-legged on the living room carpet.

"You seem to enjoy genjutsu." He commented dryly.

"It's simple and effective. 'Saves time that I don't have." I explained as I leaned against the countertop of the kitchen. "Anyway, is that plan agreeable?" I asked.

"Sure. After we're done with me we'll find out your elemental affinities and teach you ninjutsu alongside the genjutsu." There he went… trying to be dominant again…

"I wouldn't count on that, Uchiha." I explained. "Ninjutsu just isn't my thing." I quipped.

"You will learn and we will attain my brother." Sasuke growled back. I guess he wasn't taking "no" for an answer, or failure for an excuse... That was good I guess…

"Good attitude. I don't suppose you picked up any cooking skills from hebi-teme?" I changed the subject.

Sasuke shook his head, finally appeased.

" 'Guess we're going to have tomato and salmon onigiri tonight…" 'Cause that was really the only thing I was good at making.

Before I turned around completely to cook I stopped and crossed my arms.

"I have a better idea… how well can you hold your liquor?" I asked with a smirked.

Sasuke smirked back at my challenging tone.

Needless to say we headed to a bar. Bar food was _epic. _

A few drinks and plates of grilled chicken and rice later we were loose-lipped enough to start getting to know each other. Weird. We started a game of something like twenty-questions, except it turned into a game of twenty-million questions with a penalty if you broke the rules, which were dipshit simple.

"All-right, all right, enough laughing at my expense. Favorite color?" I asked him.

Sasuke smirked.

"Guess."

I snorted. Fine he can have it his way.

"Pink."

The Uchiha nearly choked on his beer.

"Dead wrong."

"Hmmmmm….. blue?" I guess he didn't like Sakura's hair that much… it was worth a shot.

"Guess again."

I frowned. Now I was getting frustrated.

"Red."

"No."

"Black?"

He chugged a bit of his beer and wiped his mouth on his forearm, then shook his head.

"Grey?"

"No."

"Green?"

"No."

"I fucking give up." With that I downed the rest of my bottle of sake and ordered some fruity boozed-up drink Tsunade would have laughed at me for.

"Try one more time." He downed the other half of his glass.

"Fine, fine." I daintily burped and looked him up and down thoroughly. Then I smirked. It was so obvious.

"White." I spoke. Sasuke shoved his glass towards the bartender and nodded.

"How'd you figure that one out?"

"You were wearing a white shirt when we met on that mission. I'm glad you took off the disgusting purple bow, by the way. It really made you look like a gay pirate; not that there's anything wrong with being gay, incase you a—

He flicked a rolled up straw wrapper at me to interrupt me and it stuck to the moisture on my lips.

Pissed, I chewed the trash and spat it back at him. He dodged expertly and shook his index finger, as if to tell me that wasn't ladylike. I responded by sipping a lot of the fruity drink that was placed in front of me and ordering something really strong and really bland.

"Your turn, Uchiha." I spoke, sipping my drink. He studied me carefully as the bartender gave him a different kind of beer in a tall glass. He sipped it and his face soured. It must have been the bitterest thing they had here.

Regardless, he continued to drink it and stared me down.

"Yosh." He spoke when he finished gulping. "First love." Then he smirked. Cheeky bastard. That was one of the goals of the game, as time went on we were supposed to strategically ask questions to receive embarrassing answers. Whoever was more embarrassed…lost a point, I guess? We weren't very clear about that part… whatever.

I cocked an eyebrow and moved a part of my bangs out of my face. That was an interesting one to ask. He must really be getting drunk to actually give a shit about that…

"Hmmmm…. That one's a little personal…" I dodged. I kind of didn't feel like revisiting those memories…

"It'll help me strengthen your mind against genjutsu." He offered. I knew it was a blatant lie. His smirk told me he knew I knew it was too.

"Stop lying. Just tell me why you're curious." I countered. Balls-out, Uchiha. Straight. Up.

Sasuke shrugged. "Isn't that something females usually talk about?" He sniped.

"Not this female." I shot him down. He shrugged.

"I'm curious; Name. Age. Gender. Length of time you spent with him/her." He paused here to think of a consequence if I didn't comply. "… Or you'll have to play a game as a penalty…" he was totally bullshitting about the penalty game. Yeah right, as if he was creative enough to make one up. Pshhh….

I smirked at him and downed the rest of my fruity drink. It tasted kind of like a lemon ginger mojito… mmmm ginger….

"Yo! More ginger on a plate!" I called.

"Coming right up!" Was the response I got from the worker behind the bar.

"Chris." I spoke his name and tried not to regret what happened between him and I. "Twenty four. Male, obviously. I'm not into girls, so keep your dick and your perverted brain in check. A year and a half." I replied. He looked surprised that I answered. Alcohol did funny things y'know?

"_Your_ first love." I shot back and drank down my drink. Sasuke smirked at me.

"Don't have one." He responded haughtily.

"Liar." I slandered. The bartender placed down a glass of something on the rocks.

"Prove it." He challenged. Proove he's a liar? Heh. This will get embarrassing for him… definitely.

"You kissed Naruto." His confident front shattered.

I win.

I started laughing. Sasuke looked the most surprised I've ever seen him.

"How' did you find that out?" He demanded with narrowed eyes.

Fuck… I needed a coverup. "Ummm… Sakura told me." I lied terribly. He gave me a look that told me I was a liar. I didn't do anything that showed I disagreed with him.

"I'll tell you how I know these things later. I promise." I swore, holding my right hand up and drinking my glass with my left. That appeased him.

"You're still wrong. I've never been in love."

"You had someone who loved you though…" I guilt-tripped. He sent me a withering glare. I ignored it and shrugged.

"Why did you leave him?" He asked, changing the subject. It was his turn anyway.

I snorted. "And what makes you assume that _I _was the one who left _him_?" I asked, amused.

Sasuke shrugged. "You just look like you would." He left it at that.

"Fine. I broke up with him because my life was too dangerous for him. He would've gotten killed being with me." I answered honestly. It was the raw truth and man… did it hurt. The bartender gave me a pink drink. I gulped it down in one shot, even though it looked like a martini of some some. Next!

Sasuke snorted. "Your 'man' was a civilian?" He asked condescendingly.

"Yes. A very _resourceful _civilian. He was strong, he was just… I don't know… innocent. Never killed before. I felt bad dragging him through what I was destined to go through so I left him." I explained almost flippantly. Well, it was out now, so who cares, right? This time a blue martini-ish drink was given to me, I tried to sip it slowly.

Somehow talking about this was making me feel good and bad at the same time, like I was painfully getting over it…. I guess… something like that…

"Has Orochimaru ever molested you or Kabuto?" I suddenly asked with a smirk. Sasuke threw up in his mouth, I think. Whatever he did, he definitely choked on his beer.

"Disgusting. Do you think I would have stayed if that were the case?" His nose was scrunched as if he had smelled something bad.

I thought on this for a moment. "Mmmmm….. maybe." Really. If it gave him power would he have stayed despite sexual abuse? Nah. I didn't really think so. It was just funny putting disgusting images in his head. Heh heh…

Sasuke shook his head, his henged brown hair swaying across his forehead protector.

"No." he answered honestly. "I prefer girls anyway." He downed more of his beer. I swear I saw his henged blue eyes flicker to my chest. I smirked.

"Oh so if a girl molested you you'd be okay with it?" I queried half-jokingly.

"Not exactly." He responded with a smirk.

"Oh that's right; at that point it would be sex and not molestation 'cause you'd enjoy it. Perv." I stuck my tongue out.

"Tch. I mean that by no means am I "easy". And you broke the rule. You asked more than one question during a turn." He argued back. Fuck he was right.

"Fuuuuck." I downed the rest of my drink. The room was starting to tilt a little… just a little… where was my plate of ginger?

He shoved the rest of his beer over to me and ordered another tall glass of another kind of beer.

Shit. I hated beer. A lot. Sasuke knew this. It was the first thing we talked about when he got here… drink preference.

"Prick. You've been drinking beer this whole time because you know I hate it. You were _waiting _for me to slip up…"

Sasuke smirked.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Drink up." He commanded. Well… it was the penalty. Whoever broke the rules would have to drink their whole drink as fast as possible along with the other person's drink as well as the next drink that the bartender was going to serve up to the other person. That was all Sasuke's idea. It was a great way to get salty/plastered/blasted/whatever. And FAST.

So I drank the rest of his beer and the one the bartender gave me. Gross. Fuck beer, seriously.

My ginger arrived shortly as I was done chugging the beers. Next to it was a free bowl of rice. The bartender knew my head was spinning. The old man was trying to prevent a teen shinobi pregnancy. Heh heh…

Awesome guy, really. He would be shocked when I walked out of here lugging Sasuke over my shoulder perfectly fine. Being a medical ninja was awesome.

"So, Itsuki-kun…." I spoke, using Sasuke's disguise name. "Itsuki" raised a brow after ordering a bowl of miso ramen. "It's your turn to ask." I reminded. Another beer was placed in front of him. Sasuke seemed to almost grimace at it. Maybe he liked the hard stuff better than beer too.

I can't imagine him liking a too-manly drink like beer. He was just… I don't know… too lanky for that kind of thing I guess? He seemed more like a vodka or spiced rum kind of guy.

While Sasuke thought of something to ask I summoned a yellow cat named Raiko. She was tiny, but fast and had her right ear pierced with a little lightning rod earring that I was freakin' adorable.

I wrote Tsunade a short letter on a napkin with a pen I nabbed from the other side of the bar.

_I'm kind of drinking a lot. So I can't exactly go there now, but remember to send Sakura to train with Gai-sensei as well. She needs to work on her speed. _

_ -Amara-_

I handed the sloppily written piece of paper to Raiko.

_Where should I take this, hime-chan? _

_To the hokage, if you could, Raiko? Please? _

_Of course. _

_Awesome. Next time I'm on Nekkoyama remind me to help you get some extra fish. _

_Thank you, hime. _

With that Raiko was gone in a small display of lightning that had Sasuke's eyes go wide.

I smirked at him.

"Yeah. My cats are cooler than your snakes." I stuck my tongue out at him. He looked peeved, but asked me a question instead.

"Hn. Whatever. Why cats?" He asked.

"Because I like them." I answered. 'Why snakes?"

"Because it was the only thing available." He grumbled and gulped more beer.

Even in henge Sasuke's expressions were just so… _Sasuke. _I chuckled at this and he glared at me assuming I was laughing at him being stuck with snakes.

"Well, if you find a snake you like you can stick with snakes. If you want another animal, we can do that too. Finding the summoning scroll will be a pain in the ass, but once we're out of here we can scrounge around for one if you'd like." I offered and he seemed to mull it over as his miso ramen was placed in front of him.

We both began to eat. He grimaced as he saw me eating a huge combination of white and pink ginger. I cocked an eyebrow at him as I chewed and enjoyed the taste.

"How the hell can you just eat straight ginger?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I like it. How can you just eat raw tomatoes?" I countered.

He looked at me for a second before smirking. "I like them."

"Well there ya go it's really simple." I shrugged. Mmmmmm ginger….

We finished eating and like a guy should, Sasuke argued with me over who would pay the tab. He just got access to his bank account and felt it was wrong to make me pay for his food and all of the beer he drank, even though it was much cheaper than the stuff I ordered. I paid for his clothes and bedroll and all the tomatoes back at my apartment, so I guess he felt bad.

Ginger and liquor was really, really, really expensive. Now _I _felt bad. What the fuck was this, a date?

Nevertheless, I supposed he was raised watching his father pay for his mother so that's what he did. I grumbled saying I would get the next tab and he acquiesced.

I sped up my metabolism, drank a lot of lemon-water, peed a few times and was good to go. By the time I stepped out of the bathroom for the third time, Sasuke was asleep on the bar, still in henge, a drunken blush on his cheeks.

I walked over and shook him. He woke up and wiped the drool off of his face.

He looked confused and aggravated for a second before he saw me petting Raiko before dispelling her.

He took a moment before trying to stand. And well, he stood, but he tipped over right into the bar.

I grabbed his right arm and slung it over my shoulders. He helped me drag himself to my apartment complex.

Once inside, I laid him down on his bedroll and started healing his liver. He dropped the henge, turning back into the Sasuke I was more familiar with.

"How did you manage to walk out of there fine?" He _almost _slurred. Uchiha Sasuke didn't slur, apparently, or rather, wouldn't let himself slur. I smirked at him.

"Medical ninjutsu is a useful thing. I sped up my metabolism momentarily. That's why I had to use the bathroom a few times. I was effectively purging my body of the alcohol."

"You should teach me that…" He mumbled tiredly. I didn't blame him for being exhausted; it was about two in the morning.

Realizing the time I yawned into my shoulder.

"Yeah I guess we could cover it when we help you fine tune your chakra control. Hang on for a second; you're on the cusp of alcohol poisoning. I have to remove it from your liver."

Jokingly, he grabbed onto the leg of the couch.

I cut open his skin and out poured all of the beer he had tonight into the spinning wheel of chakra in my left palm. He screamed in agony and seriously gripped the couch, trying to hold as still as possible.

Heh, I _told _him it was imperative for him to hold onto something…

Once most of the booze was gone, I healed his cut and the sore tissues the "poison" had traveled through. I stood up, holding the spinning, nasty-smelling ball of liquid just above my left palm.

I walked over to the bathroom and dumped it into the toilet, then flushed.

When I went back into the living room, Sasuke was fast asleep. I shook my head and threw a blanket on top of him.

I looked at my clone, meditating on the couch. We hadn't even disturbed her. I released her and fell to my knees as silently as possible.

My whole body burned and ached for a few minutes as my chakra pathways were getting used to the extra chakra my clone had built up. When I was finally good enough to walk, I trudged to my bedroom, fell on my bed and nodded out.

-X-

The next morning I awoke around eight o' clock to the sound of the shower going.

As I briefly wondered who the FUCK was using my shower, I remembered it was just Sasuke.

Since when did we agree he would stay here, again?

Man, I felt like ten different kinds of shit. Did I really drink THAT much last night?

Meh.

I got up and walked over to the kitchen. Breakfast was already out on the table. Onigiri with green tea and a surprising, small dish of ginger on the side. Mmmmmmmmmm!

I sat down and ate like a hungry animal. I was finished and drinking down my green tea when Sasuke walked out of the bathroom, dressed in a pair of black shinobi pants, boots, and a loose-fitting white shirt. His hair was still dripping water, making little dark grey spots on his shirt where his shoulders were.

"About time." I joked. He smirked at me and looked at the empty plate, then at me.

"Yes. I enjoyed it. You make a great housewife." I laughed, answering him before he could even ask. His expression darkened minutely but he seemed to be in a good mood.

Damn. If one night of senseless drinking and bantering was all this kid needed to feel better, then somebody should have done it for him sooner.

I stretched and yawned and decided to go get my clothes from my room.

When I walked into the shower I saw Sasuke relaxing on the living room couch, soaking up the morning sun through the window above his head like a cat.

-X-

I disrobed and turned on the hot water. Maybe Sasuke wasn't such a bad roommate after all… he didn't take too long to shower and he even made breakfast. I mean I healed him first and all, but still. At least he showed some gratitude.

I avoided accidentally using his products, showered and stepped out. My hair was getting long. Whatever I would cut it later. I brushed my teeth and dried off before getting dressed.

I threw all my clothes from the previous night into the hamper and finally stepped out into the hallway dressed in a pair of red cargo shorts and a purple t-shirt.

I crashed on the couch next to Sasuke, but he didn't move.

"So today we're going to work on chakra control. I'm going to injure some fish and you're going to copy and employ my mystic palm technique to heal them, got it?

That's technically a type of ninjutsu so it shouldn't take more than a few hours for you to learn, especially if you make about three clones and practice hard. Then we'll use the rest of the day to work on kenjutsu. 'Kay?"

"Hm." I took that as a "yes".

-X-

Boring chapter again, I think? I thought the part where they were drinking was funny. I could have gone A LOT further with that by the way… Anyway, hit me up with a review!

Disclaimer: All rights reserved. Naruto is Kishimoto's baby.


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